Transient analysis of swelling-induced large deformations in polymer gels

Lucantonio, Alessandro; Nardinocchi, Paola; Teresi, Luciano

doi:10.1016/j.jmps.2012.07.010

Cited by 166 publications

(141 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The heterogeneous Collagen I orientation was induced by internally developing strain fields due to the Matrigel volume swelling upon setting (25)(26)(27)(28)(29). Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oriented collagen fibers direct tumor cell intravasation

Han

Chen

Yuan

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

311

248

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In this work, we constructed a Collagen I-Matrigel composite extracellular matrix (ECM). The composite ECM was used to determine the influence of the local collagen fiber orientation on the collective intravasation ability of tumor cells. We found that the local fiber alignment enhanced cell-ECM interactions. Specifically, metastatic MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells followed the local fiber alignment direction during the intravasation into rigid Matrigel (∼10 mg/mL protein concentration).M etastasis is a lethal milestone in cancer: Cells escape from the confinement of primary tumor sites (intravasation), invade tissues as well as the lymphatic and vascular systems, and finally colonize (extravasation) distant sites. It has been estimated that less than 1% of tumor cells undergo this process, but metastasis contributes to more than 90% of cancerrelated deaths (1, 2). Metastasis involves both genetic and epigenetic alternation of tumor cells, as well as external biochemical and biophysical microenvironments (3-5). Pathology studies suggest that metastatic tumor cells exhibit highly branched morphologies and distinct aligned registration with aligned extracellular matrix (ECM) during metastatic tumor progression (4, 5).We address three important questions concerning metastasis. (i) Can we build in vitro complex ECM structures with heterogeneously oriented collagen fibers and basement membrane components to mimic the cancer cell intravasation process? (ii) How does aligned collagen influence cell intravasation into/ through the basement membrane before entering vessels? (iii) After cell detachment from the primary tumor site, how does a heterogeneous ECM with a varying degree of local fiber alignment influence cell intravasation and subsequent penetration into the basement membrane during their intravasation process? The major obstacle to addressing these questions is the difficulty in constructing both an in vitro 3D microenvironment to mimic the above process and flexible controls of the environmental parameters, such as fiber orientations in a complex collagen/Matrigel composite, nutrition, oxygen, drug concentrations, etc.In breast cancer metastasis, cancer cells are believed to reorganize and progress through the interstitial ECM matrix, break through the basement membrane, and enter blood vessels or lymphatic capillaries (6-10). Fig. 1C presents a schematic illustration of the intravasation process in metastasis. Tumor-associated collagen signatures (TACS), basically environmentally elevated collagen density and collagen fiber reorganization, are used to stage mammary carcinoma tumor progression levels (6, 11-13). Fig. 1 presents hematoxylin/eosin (H&E)-stained biopsy slices of breast cancer imaged by second harmonic generation (SHG) under a two-photon confocal microscopy (A1R MP; Nikon) (detailed information provided in SI Appendix, SI Text) (6, 14, 15). Fig. 1 A, 1-3 shows the stained human invasive ductal carcinoma tumor at grade I. In the enlarged figures (Fig. 1 A, 2 and 3), the cells have well-defined bord...

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“…The heterogeneous Collagen I orientation was induced by internally developing strain fields due to the Matrigel volume swelling upon setting (25)(26)(27)(28)(29). Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oriented collagen fibers direct tumor cell intravasation

Han

Chen

Yuan

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

311

248

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Following the study in [6], the gel body is identified with a region B of the three-dimensional Euclidean space E, denoted as the reference configuration, with boundary ∂B of unit normal m. If a time interval I ⊂ R is chosen, the balance equations of forces and solvent are div S = 0 andċ = −div h , on B × I (2.1) and S m = t and − h · m = q , on ∂B × I, (2.2) with S and h as the stress in the reference state (a.k.a. the first Piola-Kirchhoff stress) and the solvent flux, t and q as the boundary traction and the rate of solvent transported into B across its boundary ∂B, and c as the solvent concentration field per unit reference volume.…”

Section: Swelling-induced Deformation Processes In Polymer Gelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We assume that the theory is consistent with a thermodynamic-like inequality and, following the approach proposed in [13] (see also [6,14]), have the following constitutive equations for the reference stress S, the chemical potential μ and the reference solvent flux h:…”

Section: Swelling-induced Deformation Processes In Polymer Gelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Swelling-induced and controlled curving in layered gel beams

2014

Self Cite

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We describe swelling-driven curving in originally straight and non-homogeneous beams. We present and verify a structural model of swollen beams, based on a new point of view adopted to describe swelling-induced deformation processes in bilayered gel beams, that is based on the split of the swellinginduced deformation of the beam at equilibrium into two components, both depending on the elastic properties of the gel. The method allows us to: (i) determine beam stretching and curving, once assigned the characteristics of the solvent bath and of the non-homogeneous beam, and (ii) estimate the characteristics of non-homogeneous flat gel beams in such a way as to obtain, under free-swelling conditions, three-dimensional shapes. The study was pursued by means of analytical, semi-analytical and numerical tools; excellent agreement of the outcomes of the different techniques was found, thus confirming the strength of the method.

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“…In the following, we briefly summarize the non-linear swelling theory for hydrogels introduced in [10]. The state of the hydrogel is described by the motion f of the polymer network and the solvent concentration c per unit reference volume.…”

Section: Poroelasticity Of the Hydrogel Layermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As concerns the constitutive equations, we prescribe the following Flory-Rehner representation for the free energy density of the hydrogel [4,10] …”

Section: Poroelasticity Of the Hydrogel Layermentioning

confidence: 99%

Concurrent factors determine toughening in the hydraulic fracture of poroelastic composites

Lucantonio

Noselli

2017

Meccanica

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Brittle materials fail catastrophically. In consequence of their limited flaw-tolerance, failure occurs by localized fracture and is typically a dynamic process. Recently, experiments on epithelial cell monolayers have revealed that this scenario can be significantly modified when the material susceptible to cracking is adhered to a hydrogel substrate. Thanks to the hydraulic coupling between the brittle layer and the poroelastic substrate, such a composite can develop a toughening mechanism that relies on the simultaneous growth of multiple cracks. Here, we study this remarkable behaviour by means of a detailed model, and explore how the material and loading parameters concur in determining the macroscopic toughness of the system. By extending a previous study, our results show that rapid loading conveys material toughness by promoting distributed cracking. Moreover, our theoretical findings may suggest innovative architectures of flaw-insensitive materials with higher toughness.

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Transient analysis of swelling-induced large deformations in polymer gels

Cited by 166 publications

References 19 publications

Oriented collagen fibers direct tumor cell intravasation

Oriented collagen fibers direct tumor cell intravasation

Swelling-induced and controlled curving in layered gel beams

Concurrent factors determine toughening in the hydraulic fracture of poroelastic composites

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