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Articles

Debbie Chachra

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Full-Text Articles in Biomaterials

Effect Of Applied Uniaxial Stress On Rate And Mechanical Effects Of Cross-Linking In Tissue-Derived Biomaterials, Debbie Chachra, Paul Gratzer, Christopher Pereira, J. Lee Jul 2012

Effect Of Applied Uniaxial Stress On Rate And Mechanical Effects Of Cross-Linking In Tissue-Derived Biomaterials, Debbie Chachra, Paul Gratzer, Christopher Pereira, J. Lee

Debbie Chachra

Conformational changes in collagen fibrils, and indeed the triple helix, can be produced by application of mechanical stress or strain. We have demonstrated that the rate of cross-linking in glutaraldehyde and epoxide homobifunctional reagents can be modulated by uniaxial stress (strain). Two poly(glycidyl ether) epoxides were used: Denacol® EX-810 (a small bifunctional reagent), and Denacol EX-512 (a large polyfunctional reagent). To prevent any possible effect from being masked by saturation of cross-linking sites, bovine pericardium was cross-linked to such an extent that the increase in collagen denaturation temperature, Td, was one-half of the maximal rise achievable with …


A New Tool To Assess The Mechanical Properties Of Bone Due To Collagen Degradation, C. Wynnyckyj, S. Omelon, K. Savage, M. Damani, Debbie Chachra, Marc Grynpas Feb 2012

A New Tool To Assess The Mechanical Properties Of Bone Due To Collagen Degradation, C. Wynnyckyj, S. Omelon, K. Savage, M. Damani, Debbie Chachra, Marc Grynpas

Debbie Chachra

Current clinical tools for evaluating fracture risk focus only on the mineral phase of bone. However, changes in the collagen matrix may affect bone mechanical properties, increasing fracture risk while remaining undetected by conventional screening methods such as dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and quantitative ultrasound (QUS). The mechanical response tissue analyzer (MRTA) is a non-invasive, radiation-free potential clinical tool for evaluating fracture risk. The objectives of this study were two-fold: to investigate the ability of the MRTA to detect changes in mechanical properties of bone as a result of treatment with 1 M potassium hydroxide (KOH) and to evaluate …