Issue 2, 2011

Instabilities and oscillations in isotropic active gels

Abstract

We present a generic formulation of the continuum elasticity of an isotropic crosslinked active gel. The gel is described by a two-component model consisting of an elastic network coupled frictionally to a permeating fluid. Activity is induced by active crosslinkers that undergo an ATP-activated cycle and transmit forces to the network. The on/off dynamics of the active crosslinkers is described via rate equations for unbound and bound motors. For large activity motors yield a contractile instability of the network. At intermediate activity, the on/off motor dynamics provides an effective inertial drag on the network that opposes elastic restoring forces, resulting in spontaneous oscillations. Our work provides a continuum formulation that unifies earlier microscopic models of oscillations in muscle sarcomeres and a generic framework for the description of the large scale properties of isotropic active solids.

Graphical abstract: Instabilities and oscillations in isotropic active gels

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 Jun 2010
Accepted
04 Oct 2010
First published
27 Oct 2010

Soft Matter, 2011,7, 463-473

Instabilities and oscillations in isotropic active gels

S. Banerjee and M. C. Marchetti, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 463 DOI: 10.1039/C0SM00494D

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