Collagen tensile strength

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-... 

Collagen, the principal fibrous protein in mammalian tissue, has a tertiary structure made up of twisted a-helices. Three polypeptide chains, each of which is a left-handed helix, are twisted into a right-handed super helix to form an extremely strong tertiary structure. It has remarkable tensile strength, which makes it important in the structure of bones, tendons, teeth, and cartilage. 

Collagens (see p. 344), of which there are at least 19 different varieties, form fibers, fibrils, networks, and ligaments. Their characteristic properties are tensile strength and flexibility. Elastin is a fiber protein with a high degree of elasticity. 

Collagen triple helix High tensile strength, without stretch Collagen of tendons, bone matrix... 

The tight wrapping of the a chains in the collagen triple helix provides tensile strength greater than that... 

Bradshaw, A. D., Puolakkainen, P., Dasgupta, J., Davidson, J. M., Wight, T. N., and Sage, E. H. (2003). SPARC-null mice display abnormalities in the dermis characterized by decreased collagen fibril diameter and reduced tensile strength. J. Invest. Dermatol. 120, 949-955. 

Decorin is a small, leucine-rich proteoglycan and one of the many extracellular matrix (ECM) compounds. It interacts closely with the D and E bands of type 1 collagen and increases collagen s tensile strength.39,40 In rats with subcutaneously implanted devices, we found that the decorin was highly expressed at the middle and later stages of the foreign body reaction.17... 

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