ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2016
Strain-enhanced stress relaxation impacts nonlinear elasticity in collagen gels.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 160 papers.
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Who cites it
160 citing papers in PubMed, 327 citations in OpenAlex.
- Beyond stiffness: interfacial slippage and active cellular matrix remodelling in focal adhesion dynamics.European biophysics journal : EBJ · 2026Review
- Mechanical cues of an interpenetrating polysaccharide matrix regulate self-assembly of collagen fibers.Science advances · 2026Article
- Adipose-mimetic granular hydrogels uncover biophysical cues driving breast cancer invasion.Cell biomaterials · 2026Article
- Mechanics of compression-driven morphogenesis.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2026Review
- Dynamic Perfusion and Cell Seeding Density Govern Remodeling and Mechanical Maturation of Bioprinted Collagen Constructs.Gels (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Article
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- Thermally Activated Stress Relaxation and Creep in Ideal Hydrogel Elastomers: Rupture of Tensile Strands.ACS polymers Au · 2026Article
- Intimate encapsulation of non-planar electrodes via a viscoplastic interlayer.National science review · 2026Article
- Mechanically adaptive materials with tunable stiffness for biomedical devices: Mechanisms, applications, and perspectives.Materials today. Bio · 2026Review
- Viscoelastic Hydrogels Governed by Molecular Interactions and Mechanochemical Effects.Polymers · 2026Review
- Adaptive PEG Bis-dendron Hydrogels with Tunable Mechanics and Bioactivity.Chemistry of materials : a publication of the American Chemical Society · 2026Article
- Gingival Creep Failure: A Viscoelastic Theory of Recession in Thin Periodontal Phenotypes.Biology · 2026Article
- Scalable one-step synthesis of gelatin-dithiolane for neural tissue engineering.Journal of materials chemistry. B · 2026Article
- Mechanical communication and function regulation of immune cells.Fundamental research · 2026Review
- Mechanical regulation of metabolism, epigenetics, and their interplay.npj biomedical innovations · 2026Review
- A photo-crosslinkable hyaluronic acid-collagen hydrogel maintains epithelial integrity and supports intestinal organoid stemness.Regenerative biomaterials · 2026Article
- Review
- Next-Generation Hydrogels for Biliary Organoid Engineering.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Unlocking the therapeutic potential of cellular mechanobiology.Science advances · 2025Review
100 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a complex assembly of structural proteins that provides physical support and biochemical signaling to cells in tissues. The mechanical properties of the ECM have been found to play a key role in regulating cell behaviors such as differentiation and malignancy. Gels formed from ECM protein biopolymers such as collagen or fibrin are commonly used for 3D cell culture models of tissue. One of the most striking features of these gels is that they exhibit nonlinear elasticity, undergoing strain stiffening. However, these gels are also viscoelastic and exhibit stress relaxation, with the resistance of the gel to a deformation relaxing over time. Recent studies have suggested that cells sense and respond to both nonlinear elasticity and viscoelasticity of ECM, yet little is known about the connection between nonlinear elasticity and viscoelasticity. Here, we report that, as strain is increased, not only do biopolymer gels stiffen but they also exhibit faster stress relaxation, reducing the timescale over which elastic energy is dissipated. This effect is not universal to all biological gels and is mediated through weak cross-links. Mechanistically, computational modeling and atomic force microscopy (AFM) indicate that strain-enhanced stress relaxation of collagen gels arises from force-dependent unbinding of weak bonds between collagen fibers. The broader effect of strain-enhanced stress relaxation is to rapidly diminish strain stiffening over time. These results reveal the interplay between nonlinear elasticity and viscoelasticity in collagen gels, and highlight the complexity of the ECM mechanics that are likely sensed through cellular mechanotransduction.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.