title: Physical properties of cytoplasmic intermediate filaments.
abstract: Intermediate filaments (IFs) constitute a sophisticated filament system in the cytoplasm of eukaryotes. They form bundles and networks with adapted viscoelastic properties and are strongly interconnected with the other filament types, microfilaments and microtubules. IFs are cell type specific and apart from biochemical functions, they act as mechanical entities to provide stability and resilience to cells and tissues. We review the physical properties of these abundant structural proteins including both in vitro studies and cell experiments. IFs are hierarchical structures and their physical properties seem to a large part be encoded in the very specific architecture of the biopolymers. Thus, we begin our review by presenting the assembly mechanism, followed by the mechanical properties of individual filaments, network and structure formation due to electrostatic interactions, and eventually the mechanics of in vitro and cellular networks. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Mechanobiology.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Röntgenphysik, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Block
authors.affiliation: Institut für Röntgenphysik, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany; Center for Nanoscale Microscopy and Molecular Physiology of the Brain, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Viktor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Schroeder
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mechanical Process Engineering and Mechanics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pawelzyk
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mechanical Process Engineering and Mechanics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Willenbacher
authors.affiliation: Institut für Röntgenphysik, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany; Center for Nanoscale Microscopy and Molecular Physiology of the Brain, Göttingen, Germany. Electronic address: sarah.koester@phys.uni-goettingen.de.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Köster
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004548:Elasticity; D006801:Humans; D007382:Intermediate Filaments / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D055672:Static Electricity
keywords: Assembly; Cell mechanics; Intermediate filament; Network; Persistence length; Polyelectrolyte