title: Nanostructure, effective properties, and deformation pattern of the cochlear outer hair cell cytoskeleton.
abstract: We consider the mechanical properties of the outer hair cell cytoskeleton. The cytoskeleton is represented as a set of microdomains of different sizes and orientations composed of actin filaments and spectrin crosslinks. An intermediate material between domains is also introduced. The domain characteristics are randomly generated and the histograms of the cytoskeleton stiffness moduli are obtained. We solve an inverse problem and estimate the stiffness of the crosslink and connective molecule in the intermediate material. We discovered a pattern of highly inhomogeneous deformation of the cytoskeleton where the circumferential strain is primarily determined by the deformation of the intermediate material.
authors: Department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Computational Medicine and Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
authors: Alexander A
authors: AA
authors: Spector
authors: Mohammed
authors: M
authors: Ameen
authors: Panos G
authors: PG
authors: Charalambides
authors: Aleksander S
authors: AS
authors: Popel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016880:Anisotropy; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D004548:Elasticity; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D018072:Hair Cells, Auditory, Outer / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D008322:Mammals; D008954:Models, Biological; D008958:Models, Molecular; D036103:Nanotechnology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D016474:Weight-Bearing / Q000502:physiology