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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Matrix Biol. 2011 May 26;30(5-6):356–360. doi: 10.1016/j.matbio.2011.03.010

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Schematic of the collagen network and location of applied force to a single chain.

(A) Simplified illustration of the collagen fibril network and the intermolecular cross-links between adjacent collagen molecules. (B) Steered Molecular Dynamics (SMD) model of the load applied to a single side chain. The C-α of each residue at the ends of the molecule were fixed in space, indicated with yellow spheres. The force, F, was applied to the C-β of an arginine residue (pseudo cross-link) through a theoretical spring (not shown). The force moved at a constant velocity in the direction indicated by the arrow. (C) Magnified view of the force applied to the C-β of the side chain, perpendicular and away from the long axis of the collagen molecule.