- Title Information
- Title
- Mechanics of Molecular Bond Clusters between Elastic Media: Stochastic-elastic Coupling in Cell-matrix Adhesion
- Name:
Personal
- Name Part
- Qian, Jin
- Role
- Role Term:
Text
- creator
- Origin Information
- Copyright Date
(keyDate="yes", encoding="w3cdtf")
- 2009
- Physical Description
- Extent
- xvi, 125 p.
- digitalOrigin
- born digital
- Note
- Thesis (Ph.D.) -- Brown University (2010)
- Name:
Personal
- Name Part
- Gao, Huajian
- Role
- Role Term:
Text
- director
- Name:
Personal
- Name Part
- Freund, Lambert
- Role
- Role Term:
Text
- reader
- Name:
Personal
- Name Part
- Franck, Christian
- Role
- Role Term:
Text
- reader
- Name:
Corporate
- Name Part
- Brown University. Division of Engineering. Mechanics of Solids
- Role
- Role Term:
Text
- sponsor
- Genre (aat)
- theses
- Abstract
- Cell-matrix adhesion depends on the collective behavior of a large number of molecular bonds. While the behavior of a single molecular bond is governed by statistical mechanics,
continuum mechanics should be valid at a large scale. How can this transition be modeled and can this tell us something about the mechanics of cell adhesion? We consider in this thesis an
idealized theoretical model of molecular bond clusters between two dissimilar elastic media subjected to various forms of mechanical load. The distribution of interfacial traction is assumed to
obey classical elasticity equations while the rupture and rebinding of individual molecular bonds are governed by stochastic equations. We show that the interfacial traction is generally shared
among the molecular bonds in a non-uniform manner governed by the elasticity of the system. Monte Carlo simulations that combine the elastic and stochastic descriptions are conducted to
investigate the lifetime of molecular bond clusters as a function of the loading magnitude for given adhesion sizes. Generally, the average cluster lifetime asymptotically approaches infinity as
the applied load is reduced to below a critical value, defined as the adhesion strength. The effects of cluster size, cell/matrix modulus, rebinding rate and loading direction on the cluster
lifetime and strength are systematically investigated. While overly simplified in a number of aspects, the model discussed in this thesis seems to give predictions that are broadly consistent
with relevant experimental observations on cell-matrix adhesion. The second topic of this thesis deals with the capillary adhesion in insects like beetles and blowflies. We investigate the
scaling effects of wet adhesion mediated by a liquid bridge between a fiber and a solid surface. The influences of liquid volume and contact angles are discussed via a scaling law indicating
that the adhesion strength can be enhanced by contact size reduction. Due to the negative pressure in the liquid bridge, there exists a critical length scale at which the system achieves the
theoretical tensile strength of the liquid. We conclude that size reduction down to a critical scale results in optimization of the adhesion strength.
- Subject (Local)
- Topic
- Focal Adhesion
- Subject (Local)
- Topic
- Receptor-ligand Bonds
- Subject (Local)
- Topic
- Adhesion Lifetime
- Subject (Local)
- Topic
- Adhesion Strength
- Subject (Local)
- Topic
- Monte Carlo simulations
- Subject (FAST)
(authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/850164")
- Topic
- Cell adhesion
- Record Information
- Record Content Source (marcorg)
- RPB
- Record Creation Date
(encoding="iso8601")
- 20091218
- Language
- Language Term:
Code (ISO639-2B)
- eng
- Language Term:
Text
- English
- Identifier:
DOI
- 10.7301/Z0DF6PHJ
- Access Condition:
rights statement
(href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/")
- In Copyright
- Access Condition:
restriction on access
- Collection is open for research.
- Type of Resource (primo)
- dissertations