Accumulation of collagen molecular unfolding is the mechanism of cyclic fatigue damage and failure in collagenous tissues
Fig. 1. Study overview. (A) Rat tail tendon fascicles were loaded in creep-fatigue to 40% of the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) until tissue failure. Incremental levels of fatigue were defined as the peak cyclic (creep) strain at 20, 50, and 80% of cycles to failure. (B) To label and quantify denatured collagen, we stained mechanically loaded fascicles with fluorescent CHP, which hybridizes to unfolded collagen ? chains. The amount of denatured collag...
