Measurement of stress and strain applied to electrochemically aligned collagen fibres by second-harmonic generation microscopy

Abstract

In this study, we developed a novel strain measurement technique for electrochemically aligned collagen (ELAC) fibres using second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy. The ELAC fibres were prepared by a typical electrochemical method and were subjected to cross-linking. For comparison with natural collagen fibres, polarization dependency of the prepared ELAC fibres and that of a human Achilles' tendon were evaluated. The results showed that, because of crosslinking, the ELAC fibres exhibit polarization dependency similar to that of the tendon but only in a region close to the tendon. The relationship between SHG and the applied strain was determined by a combination of SHG microscopy and tensile tests. The SHG from the ELAC fibres changed in the high strain region because of the applied stress.