8,087 research outputs found
Mechanical forces regulate the interactions of fibronectin and collagen I in extracellular matrix
Despite the crucial role of extracellular matrix (ECM) in directing cell fate in healthy and diseased tissues--particularly in development, wound healing, tissue regeneration and cancer--the mechanisms that direct the assembly and regulate hierarchical architectures of ECM are poorly understood. Collagen I matrix assembly in vivo requires active fibronectin (Fn) fibrillogenesis by cells. Here we exploit Fn-FRET probes as mechanical strain sensors and demonstrate that collagen I fibres preferentially co-localize with more-relaxed Fn fibrils in the ECM of fibroblasts in cell culture. Fibre stretch-assay studies reveal that collagen I's Fn-binding domain is responsible for the mechano-regulated interaction. Furthermore, we show that Fn-collagen interactions are reciprocal: relaxed Fn fibrils act as multivalent templates for collagen assembly, but once assembled, collagen fibres shield Fn fibres from being stretched by cellular traction forces. Thus, in addition to the well-recognized, force-regulated, cell-matrix interactions, forces also tune the interactions between different structural ECM components.233157 - European Research Council; PN2 EY016586 - NEI NIH HH
Periodic Chaotic Billiards: Quantum-Classical Correspondence in Energy Space
We investigate the properties of eigenstates and local density of states
(LDOS) for a periodic 2D rippled billiard, focusing on their quantum-classical
correspondence in energy representation. To construct the classical
counterparts of LDOS and the structure of eigenstates (SES), the effects of the
boundary are first incorporated (via a canonical transformation) into an
effective potential, rendering the one-particle motion in the 2D rippled
billiard equivalent to that of two-interacting particles in 1D geometry. We
show that classical counterparts of SES and LDOS in the case of strong chaotic
motion reveal quite a good correspondence with the quantum quantities. We also
show that the main features of the SES and LDOS can be explained in terms of
the underlying classical dynamics, in particular of certain periodic orbits. On
the other hand, statistical properties of eigenstates and LDOS turn out to be
different from those prescribed by random matrix theory. We discuss the quantum
effects responsible for the non-ergodic character of the eigenstates and
individual LDOS that seem to be generic for this type of billiards with a large
number of transverse channels.Comment: 13 pages, 18 figure
Chaotic Waveguide-Based Resonators for Microlasers
We propose the construction of highly directional emission microlasers using
two-dimensional high-index semiconductor waveguides as {\it open} resonators.
The prototype waveguide is formed by two collinear leads connected to a cavity
of certain shape. The proposed lasing mechanism requires that the shape of the
cavity yield mixed chaotic ray dynamics so as to have the appropiate (phase
space) resonance islands. These islands allow, via Heisenberg's uncertainty
principle, the appearance of quasi bound states (QBS) which, in turn,
propitiate the lasing mechanism. The energy values of the QBS are found through
the solution of the Helmholtz equation. We use classical ray dynamics to
predict the direction and intensity of the lasing produced by such open
resonators for typical values of the index of refraction.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
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