Collagen fiber

Airway cross-sections have the nominal anatomy shown in Fig. 5.16. Airway surface liquid (AST), primarily composed of mucus gel and water, surrounds the airway lumen with a thickness thought to vary from 5 to 10 mm. AST lies on the apical surface of airway epithelial cells (mostly columnar ciliated epithelium). This layer of cells, roughly two to three cells thick in proximal airways and eventually thinning to a single cell thickness in distal airways, rests along a basement membrane on its basal surface. Connective tissue (collagen fibers, basement membranes, elastin, and water) lies between the basement membrane and airway smooth muscle. Edema occurs when the volume of water within the connective tissue increases considerably. Interspersed within the smooth muscle are respiratory supply vessels (capillaries, arteriovenous anastomoses), nerves, and lymphatic vessels. 

Collagen is a rigid, inextensible fibrous protein that is a principal constituent of connective tissue in animals, including tendons, cartilage, bones, teeth, skin, and blood vessels. The high tensile strength of collagen fibers in these struc-... 

FIGURE 6.21 Collagen fibers are stabilized and strengthened by Lys-Lys cross-links. Aldehyde moieties formed by lysyl oxidase react in a spontaneous nonenzymatic aldol reaction. 

Collagen fibers, three dimensional, their part in artificial muscles, (Kuhn et al), 359... 

Fig.1. Electron micrograph of a mast cell in human heart tissue. The cytoplasm contains numerous secretory granules. The mast cell is adjacent to a coronary blood vessel, surrounded by collagen fibers and close to a myocyte. Uranyl acetate and lead citrate stained. Orig. magnif. lO.OOOx. 

Assembly of collagen fibers in quarter-staggered alignment... 

Skeletal muscle consists of muscle fibers linked together by connective tissue. Tendons and ligaments are composed of collagenous fibers that have a restricted capability to stretch. Tendons connect the muscle to the bone, whereas ligaments connect bone to bone (Fig. 57-1). 

Collagen fibers are long and thick in the middle dermis but become increasingly fine toward the outer epidermis as well as toward the inner hypodermis. Apart from this structural characteristic, which is common to all animals, the skin of each species has a different and unique morphology that significantly affects its properties (Calnan and Haines 1991). 

The thickness of the blood-gas interface is normally less than 0.5 (im. This extremely thin barrier promotes the diffusion of gases. The thickness may increase, however, under conditions of interstitial fibrosis, interstitial edema, and pneumonia. Fibrosis involves the excess production of collagen fibers by fibroblasts in the interstitial space. Edema is the movement of fluid from the capillaries into the interstitial space. Pneumonia causes inflammation and alveolar flooding. In each case, the thickness of the barrier between the air and the blood is increased and diffusion is impaired. 

Tensile forces electrically induced in a charged-collagen membrane which supports a gradient in neutral salt concentration have also been measured [7], The observed force density of oriented collagen fiber was 1 N/cm2 within 5 min on application of an electric field with a current of 0.12 mA/cm2. This value was much smaller than the force density induced by an increase in NaCl concentration. 

The collagen fibers leave small compartments where apatite nanocrystals are deposited during a controlled biomineralization process [20]. The collagen acts as a structural framework in which plate-like nanocrystals of carbonated hydroxyapatite (CHA) are embedded to strengthen the bone. The chemical formula of biological CHA can be represented as follows ... 

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