期刊
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
卷 4, 期 -, 页码 -出版社
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3224
关键词
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资金
- DOE BES [DE-FG02-06ER46314]
- IMI Program of NSF-DMR [0843934]
- German Research Foundation (DFG) through the cluster of excellence Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM)
- CompInt in the framework of the Elite Network of Bavaria (ENB)
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- Ministry of Education, Science and Technology [R33-2008-000-10163-0]
- NSF [NSF-DMR-1121053]
- [NSF-DMR-1101900]
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [0843934] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Materials Research [1101900] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Neurofilaments are intermediate filaments assembled from the subunits neurofilament-low, neurofilament-medium and neurofilament-high. In axons, parallel neurofilaments form a nematic liquid-crystal hydrogel with network structure arising from interactions between the neurofilaments' C-terminal sidearms. Here we report, using small-angle X-ray-scattering, polarized-microscopy and rheometry, that with decreasing ionic strength, neurofilament-low-high, neurofilament-low-medium and neurofilament-low-medium-high hydrogels transition from the nematic hydrogel to an isotropic hydrogel (with random, crossed-filament orientation) and to an unexpected new re-entrant liquid-crystal hydrogel with parallel filaments-the bluish-opaque hydrogel-with notable mechanical and water retention properties reminiscent of crosslinked hydrogels. Significantly, the isotropic gel phase stability is sidearm-dependent: neurofilament-low-high hydrogels exhibit a wide ionic strength range, neurofilament-low-medium hydrogels a narrow ionic strength range, whereas neurofilament-low hydrogels lack the isotropic gel phase. This suggests a dominant regulatory role for neurofilament-high sidearms in filament reorientation plasticity, facilitating organelle transport in axons. Neurofilament-inspired biomimetic hydrogels should therefore exhibit remarkable structure-dependent moduli and slow and fast water-release properties.
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