Ortho-cortex, wool

Animal fibers are made from proteins and the long molecules are built from some 20 or so different types of amino acid molecule. The proportion and arrangement of these different units determine the structure of the protein molecule and the nature of the protein itself. Wool cells come in two different types the para cortex and the ortho cortex, which lie on opposite sides of the fiber and grow at slightly different rates. This causes a three-dimensional corkscrew pattern of coiled springs, giving wool high elasticity and a memory that allows the fibers to recover and resume normal dimensions. 

Figure 30-4. Schematic representation of the structure of wool fibers W (left) which consist of cortex cells C (center), which, in turn, consist of microfibrils M (right). The microfibrils each contain 11 protofibrils P, each of which is made up of 3 or helices, para, paracortex ortho, ortho cortex.

Wool and hair have the most complex structures of any textile fibres. In the paper by Viney, fig. 1 shows how keratin proteins, of which there are more than one type, all having a complicated sequence of amino acids, assemble into intermediate filaments (IFs or microfibrils). But, as shown in Fig. 5a, this is only one part of the story. The microfibrils are embedded in a matrix, as shown in Fig. 5b. The keratin-associated proteins of the matrix contain substantial amounts of cy.stine, which cross-links molecules by -CH2-S-S-CH2- groups. Furthermore, terminal domains (tails) of the IFs, which also contain cystine, project into the matrix and join the cross-linked network. At a coarser scale, as indicated in Fig. 5c, wool is composed of cells, which are bonded together by the cell membrane complex (CMC), which is rich in lipids. As a whole, wool has a multi-component form, which consists of para-cortex, ortho-cortex, meso-cortex (not shown in Fig. 5a), and a multi-layer cuticle. In the para-and meso-cortex the fibril-matrix is a parallel assembly and the macrofibrils, if they are present, run into one another, but in the ortho-cortex the fibrils are assembled as helically twisted macrofibrils, which are clearly apparent in cross-section.s. 

An important component of cuticle is 18 - methyl - eicosanoic acid [40]. Fatty acid is bound to a protein matrix, forming a layer in the epicuticle [41,42], and this layer is referred to as F - layer [43]. The F - layer can be removed by treatment with alcoholic alkaline chlorine solution in order to enhance wettability. The cuticle and epicuticle control the rate of diffusion of dyes and other molecules onto the fibre [44]. The cortex, however, controls the bulk properties of wool and has a bilateral structure composed of two types of cells referred to as ortho and para [45,46]. The cortical cells of both are enclosed by membranes of at least three distinct layers within which the microfibrils fit. Cells of intermediate appearance and reactivity designated meso - cortical have also been reported [47]. Cortical cells on the ortho side are denti-cuticle and thin, those on the para side are polygonal and thick [47]. Fig. 1-7 illustrates the bilateral structure which is responsible for the crimp of the... 

TEM studies of thin transverse fiber sections show that the cortical structure of cashmere is considerably different from that of fine wool [296,311,320]. Australian and Chinese cash-mere fibers display both bilateral symmetry and random cell arrangements, not only in cashmere fibers from different samples but also in fibers from the same fleece [296,311], whereas fine wool fiber exhibits bilateral asymmetry only. The variation in cortical structure among fibers from the same cashmere fleece suggests that different mechanisms may be involved in fiber formation. Cashmere cortex is composed predominantly of ortholike and mesolike cells, whereas fine wool is composed predominantly of ortho- and paracortical cells arranged bilaterally. Because of the variations observed, many transverse sections need to be examined before definitive statements can be made about the physical structure of fiber from a given cashmere sample. 

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