Collagen shape

Defective aggregation in response ADP, TXA2, thrombin, collagen shape change normal (Offermans et al. 1997 Ohlmann et al. 2000). 

Table 5. Formation of the negatively and positive sequences in water and methanol, indicated by the collagen-like CD spectra and by the shape of the temperature transition curve...

The collagen shield, fabricated from procine scleral tissue, is a spherical contact lens-shaped film whose thickness can be made to vary from 0.027 to 0,071 mm. It has a diameter of 14.5 mm and a base curve of 9 mm. Once the shield is hydrated by tear fluid and begins to dissolve, it softens and conforms to the corneal surface. Dissolution rates can be varied from 2 to as long as 72 hr by exposing the shields to ultraviolet radiation in order to achieve varying degrees of crosslinking. 

Platelets adherent to collagen change shape and spread out on the subendothelium. They release the contents of their storage granules (the dense granules and the alpha granules) secretion is also stimulated by thrombin. 

VonMende, N., Bird, D.M., Albert, P.S. and Riddle, D.L. (1988) dpy-13-a nematode collagen gene that affects body shape. Cell 55, 567-576. 

Traditional methods for fabricating nano-scaled arrays are usually based on lithographic techniques. Alternative new approaches rely on the use of self-organizing templates. Due to their intrinsic ability to adopt complex and flexible conformations, proteins have been used to control the size and shape, and also to form ordered two-dimensional arrays of nanopartides. The following examples focus on the use of helical protein templates, such as gelatin and collagen, and protein cages such as ferritin-based molecules. 

Bone is an extremely dense connective tissue that, in various shapes, constitutes the skeleton. Although it is one of the hardest structures in the body, bone maintains a degree of elasticity owing to its structure and composition. It possesses a hierarchical structure and, as most of the tissues, is nanostructured in fact, it is a nanoscaled composite of collagen (organic extracellular matrix) and hydroxycarbonate apatite, (HCA, bone mineral). This nanostructure is in intimate contact with the bone cells (several microns in size), which result (at the macroscopic level) in the bone tissue. Figure 12.2 shows the bone hierarchical ordering from the bone to the crystalline structure of HCA. 

Slender spindle-shaped fibroblasts are the commonest cell to be found in connective tissue. These cells, which manufacture matrix collagen and proteoglycans, have an elliptical nucleus and a cytoplasm which is contains extensive rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus, which are typical features of secretory cells. Mast cells are found widely within connective tissues and like fibroblasts these are secretory cells and characterized by a very granular cytoplasm. Almost as numerous as the fibroblasts and cytologically very similar to them, are macrophages, also called histiocytes or littoral cells. 

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