title: Minimal model for the inelastic mechanics of biopolymer networks and cells.
abstract: We explore the mechanism behind the ambiguous nonlinear mechanical response of biopolymer networks and cells. Our theoretical analysis is based on the inelastic glassy wormlike chain model (iGWLC), which accounts for simultaneous softening and stiffening in terms of two antagonistic mechanisms: viscoelastic stress stiffening caused by polymer stretching, and inelastic fluidization caused by bond breaking. On this basis, we derive a set of simple schematic constitutive equations that faithfully reproduce the rich inelastic phenomenology of biopolymer networks and cells.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Leipzig, Postfach 100920, 04009 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wolff
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kroy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004548:Elasticity; D007700:Kinetics; D015233:Models, Statistical; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D012212:Rheology; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers; D011108:Polymers