Speaker: Spencer Lake (Washington University in St. Louis)
Title: The Role of Elastic Fibers in Tendon Mechanics
Abstract: Tendons serve as a linking component of the musculoskeletal system by transferring forces between muscle and bone. Collagen is the principal constituent of tendon and makes up a large portion of its aligned hierarchical organization. Other structural proteins (e.g., elastin) are poorly understood in relation to tendon function but may contribute to unique mechanical properties like high extensibility and fatigue resistance. In tendon, elastin has been shown to exert a significant impact on tendon mechanics despite its low content compared to other tissue constituents. This talk will present our work describing the mechanical role of elastic fibers in tendon through studies using genetically modified mouse models and enzymatic elastin digestion of mouse, bovine and human tendons. Novel imaging and fiber analysis techniques were utilized to quantify the structural organization of elastic fiber networks in different regions of functionally distinct tendons from several species. Elastic fibers are proposed to primarily affect the tensile response of tendon by regulating collagen reorganization within tendon fascicles during loading but may have other subtle roles in cell signaling and mechanotransduction.