Abstract
The production of mechanical stresses in living organisms largely relies on localized, force-generating active units embedded in filamentous matrices. Numerical simulations of discrete fiber networks with fixed boundaries have shown that buckling in the matrix dramatically amplifies the resulting active stresses. Here we extend this result to a continuum elastic medium prone to buckling subjected to an arbitrary external stress, and derive analytical expressions for the active, nonlinear constitutive relations characterizing the full active medium. Inserting these relations into popular "active gel" descriptions of living tissues and the cytoskeleton will enable investigations into nonlinear regimes previously inaccessible due to the phenomenological nature of these theories.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 331-338 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Soft Matter |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This work was supported by a PCTS fellowship to PR, the German Excellence Initiative via the program ‘‘NanoSystems Initiative Munich’’ (NIM) and the Deutsche Forschungsge-meinschaft (DFG) via the GRK2062/1 to CPB, Marie Curie Integration Grant PCIG12-GA-2012-334053, ‘‘Investissements d’Avenir’’ LabEx PALM (ANR-10-LABX-0039-PALM), ANR grant ANR-15-CE13-0004-03 and ERC Starting Grant 677532 to ML. ML’s group belongs to the CNRS consortium CellTiss.
Funders | Funder number |
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Deutsche Forschungsge-meinschaft | GRK2062/1, PCIG12-GA-2012-334053 |
German Excellence Initiative | |
LabEx PALM | ANR-10-LABX-0039-PALM, ANR-15-CE13-0004-03 |
NIM | |
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | 334053, 677532 |
European Research Council | |
Busan Presbyterian Theological College & Seminary |