ISSN:
0006-3525
Keywords:
Chemistry
;
Polymer and Materials Science
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
The isometric tensile stress generation observed when collagen fibers are immersed in aqueous solutions of lithium bromide ranging in molar concentration up to 7 was studied at 23°C. The reverse process, namely, isometric stress relaxation of the fiber occurring by subsequent immersion in distilled water, was also studied. We find that the data in the region of LiBr concentration up to about 2.5 moles/liter are adequately represented by a superposition integral \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$$ \sigma (t) = \int_{ - \infty }^\infty {K(t - \tau )} \frac{{dc(\tau )}}{{d\tau }}\,d\tau $$\end{document} where σ(t) is the time-dependent stress generated by the collagen fiber held at fixed length, c(t) is the history of LiBr molar concentration, and K(t) is the isometric contractility function, expressed as stress per unit salt concentration. We conclude that, within a limited range of salt concentration, a collagen fiber in a LiBr bath behaves as if it were a linear, time-invariant system defined mechanochemically by a single function K(t) which depends on the structural characteristics of the fiber while being independent of salt concentration. An analysis is presented of isometric mechanochemical data obtained under conditions of equilibrium by other workers who studied the behavior of collagen fibers in aqueous solutions either of urea, LiBr, or KCNS. The analysis shows that these independent (equilibrium) data confirm the linarity of the relation between isometric contractile stress and salt concentration on which our superposition integral representation is based. We also find that the asymptotic (infinite-time) value of the isometric stress is linearly related to the chemical potential of the salt as well, in agreement with the equilibrium thermodynamic treatment of mechanochemical processes by Katchalsky and Oplatka.
Additional Material:
7 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bip.1972.360110413
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