Figure 7
Schematic diagram showing fibril deformation and the SAXD method for measuring fibril strain. (a) The 67 nm periodic axial arrangements of type I collagen molecule in the unloaded (i.e. static) and loaded (i.e. deformed) state. D space is the distance between mineral platelets. (b) The corresponding SAXD spectra for the unloaded collagen fibrils as captured by the detector (to the human eye the deformed spectra are imperceptibly different). (c) Corresponding peaks obtained from radial integration of SAXD spectra shows the shift from the static to deformed state. (d) Graph showing how the SAXD diffraction peak shifts after loading and the inverse relationship to the tensile deformation of D-periodic unit in the type I collagen molecule.
