Fig. 2.
Tissue stiffness and its relationship to collagen content. (A) Tissues exhibit a wide range of stiffnesses as measured by the elastic modulus. (B) Tissue stiffness relates to the quantity of type I collagen. As the most prevalent protein in many tissues, collagen modulates mechanical properties of tissue. (C) Hematoxylin and eosin staining shows increasing severity of cardiac fibrosis with elevated collagen content (arrows) between muscle fibers (red), leading to tissue stiffening. Panel A: Reproduced with permission from Janmey and Miller [11]. Panel B: Reproduced with permission from Swift and Discher [10]. Panel C: Reproduced with permission from Weidemann et al. [44].