Mechanics of fibrous tissue: cell-driven short time active response

Soft tissue connect, surround or support internal organs and bones. In these tissues, cells are dispersed away from one another and in a collagen-based matrix, the so-called extra-cellular matrix (ECM). It is known that cells can rearrange the collagen both by biochemical action and mechanical forces, over the time scale of hours, and that their action can result in drastic changes in both the organisation and the mechanical properties of the matrix. How cells collectively orchestrate those changes remains a challenging question. We will focus on shorter time passive and active mechanics of an in vitro reconstituted microtissue and design a mechanical model of active fibrous network able to recapitulate the plastic response of fibrous tissue to compression at hour time-scale.

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