Collagen breaks at weak sacrificial bonds taming its mechanoradicals

Collagen is a force-bearing, hierarchical structural protein important to all connective tissue. In tendon collagen, high load even below macroscopic failure level creates mechanoradicals by homolytic bond scission, similar to polymers. The location and type of initial rupture sites critically decid...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2023-04, Vol.14 (1), p.2075-2075, Article 2075
Main Authors: Rennekamp, Benedikt, Karfusehr, Christoph, Kurth, Markus, Ünal, Aysecan, Monego, Debora, Riedmiller, Kai, Gryn’ova, Ganna, Hudson, David M., Gräter, Frauke
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/57/2266
631/57/2282
639/301/54/1754
639/638/45/303
639/638/45/56
Aging
Aging (materials)
Bonding strength
Cleavage
Collagen
Collagen - metabolism
Connective tissue
Connective Tissue - metabolism
Connective tissues
Cross-linking
Crosslinking
Electrophoresis
Failure modes
Gel electrophoresis
Humanities and Social Sciences
Mass spectrometry
Mass spectroscopy
Mechanical Phenomena
multidisciplinary
Polymers
Polymers - chemistry
Proteins
Rupture
Rupturing
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Tendons
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Summary:Collagen is a force-bearing, hierarchical structural protein important to all connective tissue. In tendon collagen, high load even below macroscopic failure level creates mechanoradicals by homolytic bond scission, similar to polymers. The location and type of initial rupture sites critically decide on both the mechanical and chemical impact of these micro-ruptures on the tissue, but are yet to be explored. We here use scale-bridging simulations supported by gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry to determine breakage points in collagen. We find collagen crosslinks, as opposed to the backbone, to harbor the weakest bonds, with one particular bond in trivalent crosslinks as the most dominant rupture site. We identify this bond as sacrificial, rupturing prior to other bonds while maintaining the material’s integrity. Also, collagen’s weak bonds funnel ruptures such that the potentially harmful mechanoradicals are readily stabilized. Our results suggest this unique failure mode of collagen to be tailored towards combatting an early onset of macroscopic failure and material ageing. Collagen is an important structural protein in connective tissue, but the effect of location and type of micro-ruptures in the structure on the overall tissue is not well understood. Here, the authors use scale-bridging simulations to determine the breakage points in collagen, and how the failure mode helps to prevent material ageing
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-023-37726-z