Fibrous hydrogels under biaxial confinement

Yang Li, Yunfeng Li, Elisabeth Prince, Jeffrey I. Weitz, Sergey Panyukov, Arun Ramachandran (), Michael Rubinstein () and Eugenia Kumacheva ()
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Yang Li: University of Toronto
Yunfeng Li: University of Toronto
Elisabeth Prince: University of Toronto
Jeffrey I. Weitz: Thrombosis and Atherosclerosis Research Institute
Sergey Panyukov: P. N. Lebedev Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences
Arun Ramachandran: University of Toronto
Michael Rubinstein: Duke University
Eugenia Kumacheva: University of Toronto

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Confinement of fibrous hydrogels in narrow capillaries is of great importance in biological and biomedical systems. Stretching and uniaxial compression of fibrous hydrogels have been extensively studied; however, their response to biaxial confinement in capillaries remains unexplored. Here, we show experimentally and theoretically that due to the asymmetry in the mechanical properties of the constituent filaments that are soft upon compression and stiff upon extension, filamentous gels respond to confinement in a qualitatively different manner than flexible-strand gels. Under strong confinement, fibrous gels exhibit a weak elongation and an asymptotic decrease to zero of their biaxial Poisson’s ratio, which results in strong gel densification and a weak flux of liquid through the gel. These results shed light on the resistance of strained occlusive clots to lysis with therapeutic agents and stimulate the development of effective endovascular plugs from gels with fibrous structures for stopping vascular bleeding or suppressing blood supply to tumors.

Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-30980-7

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30980-7

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