Quantification and macroscopic modeling of the nonlinear viscoelastic behavior of strained gels with varying fibrin concentrations

The mechanical properties of fibrin gels under uniaxial strains have been analyzed for low fibrin concentrations using a free-floating gel device. The authors were able to quantify the viscous and elastic moduli of gels with fibrin concentration ranging from 0.5 to 3 mg/ml, reporting significant differences of biogels moduli and dynamical response according to fibrin concentration. Furthermore, considering sequences of successively imposed step strains has revealed the strain-hardening properties of fibrin gels for strain amplitude below 5%. This nonlinear viscoelastic behavior of the gels has been precisely analyzed through numerical simulations of the overall gel response to the strain steps sequences. Phenomenological power laws relating the instantaneous and relaxed elasticity moduli to fibrin concentration have been validated, with concentration exponent in the order of 1.2 and 1.0, respectively. This continuous description of strain-dependent mechanical moduli was then used to simulate the biogel behavior when continuously time-varying strains are applied. The authors discuss how this experimental setup and associated macroscopic modeling of fibrin gels enable a further quantification of cell traction forces and mechanotransduction processes induced by biogel compaction or stretching.