Department of Biomedical Physics and Engineering, Ural State Medical Academy, Yekaterinburg, Russia.
J Biomech. 2012 May 11;45(8):1444-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2012.02.017. Epub 2012 Mar 6.
This paper addresses the possible mechanism of stretch on cell electrochemical potential change, based on the physicochemical properties of cytoskeletal network. Synthetic polyelectrolyte gel was used as an experimental model of the cytoskeleton. Gel samples with different density of network cross linking were studied. Triangular axial deformations of samples were applied. Simultaneously, the electrochemical (Donnan) potential of the gel was measured between a micropipette electrode pinned into the swollen gel, and a reference electrode in the outer solution. We found that axial deformation shifts the gel potential toward depolarization. The extent of gel depolarization showed a close negative correlation with the Young modulus of the gel. We suggest that the underlying mechanism is likely to be a universal process of counterion adsorption on charged polymer filaments due to the decrease of distance between polymer filaments owing to gel elongation.
本文基于细胞骨架的物理化学性质，探讨了伸展对细胞电化学势变化的可能机制。合成聚电解质凝胶被用作细胞骨架的实验模型。研究了具有不同网络交联密度的凝胶样品。对样品进行了三角形轴向变形。同时，在膨胀凝胶中插入微电极针和外液中的参比电极之间测量凝胶的电化学（Donnan）势。我们发现轴向变形使凝胶势向去极化方向移动。凝胶去极化的程度与凝胶的杨氏模量呈密切负相关。我们认为，其潜在机制可能是由于凝胶伸长导致聚合物细丝之间的距离减小，带电荷的聚合物细丝上的抗衡离子吸附的普遍过程。
