Abstract
Recently, we reported a new method to synthesize the rod-like tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) superlattice. To explore its potentials in nanolattice templating and tissue scaffolding, this work focused the viscoelasticity of the superlattice with a novel transient method via atomic force microscopy (AFM). For measuring viscoelasticity, in contrast to previous methods that assessed the oscillating response, the method proposed in this work enabled us to determine the transient response (creep or relaxation) of micro/nanobiomaterials. The mathematical model and numerical process were elaborated to extract the viscoelastic properties from the indentation data. The adhesion between the AFM tip and the sample was included in the indentation model. Through the functional equation method, the elastic solution for the indentation model was extended to the viscoelastic solution so that the time dependent force vs. displacement relation could be attained. To simplify the solving of the differential equation, a standard solid model was modified to obtain the elastic and viscoelastic components of the sample. The viscoelastic responses with different mechanical stimuli and the dynamic properties were also investigated.
Highlights
The recognition of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) since the end of nineteenth century [1] has sparked innumerable research towards its potential applications in biomedicine [2,3] and biotemplates for novel nanomaterial syntheses [4,5]
For the TMV/Ba2+ superlattice whose viscoelastic behavior is simulated by a standard solid model, the differential equation governs its stress-strain behavior and becomes σ_
For the DMT model [46], the relation between the indentation force F and relative approach δ, shown in Figure 8, can be expressed as Conclusions This paper presented a novel method to characterize the viscoelasticity of TMV/Ba2+ superlattice with the AFMbased transient indentation
Summary
The recognition of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) since the end of nineteenth century [1] has sparked innumerable research towards its potential applications in biomedicine [2,3] and biotemplates for novel nanomaterial syntheses [4,5]. A TMV is composed of a single-strand RNA that is coated with 2,130 protein molecules, forming a special tubular structure with a length of 300 nm, an inner diameter of 4 nm, and an outer diameter of 18 nm [6]. The TMVs observed under a microscope can reach several tens of microns in length due to its unique feature of head-to-tail self-assembly [7]. Biochemical studies have shown that the TMV mutant can function as extracellular matrix proteins, which guide the cell adhesion and spreading [8]. It has been confirmed that stem cell differentiation can be enhanced by both native and chemically modified TMV through regulating the gene's expression [9,10,11]. TMV can be electrospun with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) into continuous TMV/PVA composite nanofiber to form a biodegradable nonwoven fibrous mat as an extracellular matrix mimetic [12]
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