Hybrid Surface Patterns Mimicking the Design of the Adhesive Toe Pad of Tree Frog.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Xue L
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5656980 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:Previous work using an atomic force microscope in nanoindenter mode indicated that the outer, 10- to 15-?m thick, keratinised layer of tree frog toe pads has a modulus of elasticity equivalent to silicone rubber (5-15 MPa) (Scholz et al. 2009), but gave no information on the physical properties of deeper structures. In this study, micro-indentation is used to measure the stiffness of whole toe pads of the tree frog, Litoria caerulea. We show here that tree frog toe pads are amongst the softest of biological structures (effective elastic modulus 4-25 kPa), and that they exhibit a gradient of stiffness, being stiffest on the outside. This stiffness gradient results from the presence of a dense network of capillaries lying beneath the pad epidermis, which probably has a shock absorbing function. Additionally, we compare the physical properties (elastic modulus, work of adhesion, pull-off force) of the toe pads of immature and adult frogs.
| S-EPMC3176399 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Frogs (Lissamphibia: Anura) use adhesive tongues to capture fast moving, elusive prey. For this, the tongues are moved quickly and adhere instantaneously to various prey surfaces. Recently, the functional morphology of frog tongues was discussed in context of their adhesive performance. It was suggested that the interaction between the tongue surface and the mucus coating is important for generating strong pull-off forces. However, despite the general notions about its importance for a successful contact with the prey, little is known about the surface structure of frog tongues. Previous studies focused almost exclusively on species within the Ranidae and Bufonidae, neglecting the wide diversity of frogs. Here we examined the tongue surface in nine different frog species, comprising eight different taxa, i.e., the Alytidae, Bombinatoridae, Megophryidae, Hylidae, Ceratophryidae, Ranidae, Bufonidae, and Dendrobatidae. In all species examined herein, we found fungiform and filiform papillae on the tongue surface. Further, we observed a high degree of variation among tongues in different frogs. These differences can be seen in the size and shape of the papillae, in the fine-structures on the papillae, as well as in the three-dimensional organization of subsurface tissues. Notably, the fine-structures on the filiform papillae in frogs comprise hair-like protrusions (Megophryidae and Ranidae), microridges (Bufonidae and Dendrobatidae), or can be irregularly shaped or absent as observed in the remaining taxa examined herein. Some of this variation might be related to different degrees of adhesive performance and may point to differences in the spectra of prey items between frog taxa.
| S-EPMC4979896 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Frogs are well known to capture fast-moving prey by flicking their sticky tongues out of the mouth. This tongue projection behaviour happens extremely fast which makes frog tongues a biological high-speed adhesive system. The processes at the interface between tongue and prey, and thus the mechanism of adhesion, however, are completely unknown. Here, we captured the contact mechanics of frog tongues by filming tongue adhesion at 2000 frames per second through an illuminated glass. We found that the tongue rolls over the target during attachment. However, during the pulling phase, the tongue retractor muscle acts perpendicular to the target surface and thus prevents peeling during tongue retraction. When the tongue detaches, mucus fibrils form between the tongue and the target. Fibrils commonly occur in pressure-sensitive adhesives, and thus frog tongues might be a biological analogue to these engineered materials. The fibrils in frog tongues are related to the presence of microscopic papillae on the surface. Together with a layer of nanoscale fibres underneath the tongue epithelium, these surface papillae will make the tongue adaptable to asperities. For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, we are able to integrate anatomy and function to explain the processes during adhesion in frog tongues.
| S-EPMC4593688 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The research goal of this work is to investigate modeling patterns that recur in ontologies. Such patterns may originate from certain design solutions, and they may possibly indicate emerging ontology design patterns. We describe our tree-mining method for identifying the emerging design patterns. The method works in two steps: (1) we transform the ontology axioms in a tree shape in order to find axiom patterns; and then, (2) we use association analysis to mine co-occuring axiom patterns in order to extract emerging design patterns. We conduct an experimental study on a set of 331 ontologies from the BioPortal repository. We show that recurring axiom patterns appear across all individual ontologies, as well as across the whole set. In individual ontologies, we find frequent and non-trivial patterns with and without variables. Some of the former patterns have more than 300,000 occurrences. The longest pattern without a variable discovered from the whole ontology set has size 12, and it appears in 14 ontologies. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first method for automatic discovery of emerging design patterns in ontologies. Finally, we demonstrate that we are able to automatically detect patterns, for which we have manually confirmed that they are fragments of ontology design patterns described in the literature. Since our method is not specific to particular ontologies, we conclude that we should be able to discover new, emerging design patterns for arbitrary ontology sets.
| S-EPMC6261490 | biostudies-other
Project description:Reptiles are the most morphologically and physiologically diverse tetrapods, and have undergone 300 million years of adaptive evolution. Within the reptilian tetrapods, geckos possess several interesting features, including the ability to regenerate autotomized tails and to climb on smooth surfaces. Here we sequence the genome of Gekko japonicus (Schlegel's Japanese Gecko) and investigate genetic elements related to its physiology. We obtain a draft G. japonicus genome sequence of 2.55 Gb and annotated 22,487 genes. Comparative genomic analysis reveals specific gene family expansions or reductions that are associated with the formation of adhesive setae, nocturnal vision and tail regeneration, as well as the diversification of olfactory sensation. The obtained genomic data provide robust genetic evidence of adaptive evolution in reptiles.
| S-EPMC4673495 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Under incomplete reproductive isolation, secondary contact of diverged allopatric lineages may lead to the formation of hybrid zones that allow to study recombinants over several generations as excellent systems of genomic interactions resulting from the evolutionary forces acting on certain genes and phenotypes. Hybrid phenotypes may either exhibit intermediacy or, alternatively, transgressive traits, which exceed the extremes of their parents due to epistasis and segregation of complementary alleles. While transgressive morphotypes have been examined in fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals, studies in amphibians are rare. Here, we associate microsatellite-based genotypes with morphometrics-based morphotypes of two tree frog species of the Hyla arborea group, sampled across a hybrid zone in Poland, to understand whether the genetically differentiated parental species also differ in morphology between each other and their hybrids and whether secondary contact leads to the evolution of intermediate or transgressive morphotypes. Using univariate approaches, explorative multivariate methods (principal component analyses) as well as techniques with prior grouping (discriminant function analyses), we find that morphotypes of both parental species and hybrids differ from each other. Importantly, hybrid morphotypes are neither intermediate nor transgressive but found to be more similar to H. orientalis than to H. arborea.
| S-EPMC8794711 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Tree frogs have the remarkable ability to attach to smooth, rough, dry, and wet surfaces using their versatile toe pads. Tree frog attachment involves the secretion of mucus into the pad-substrate gap, requiring adaptations towards mucus drainage and pad lubrication. Here, we present an overview of tree frog attachment, with focus on (i) the morphology and material of the toe pad; (ii) the functional demands on the toe pad arising from ecology, lifestyle, and phylogenetics; (iii) experimental data of attachment performance such as adhesion and friction forces; and (iv) potential perspectives on future developments in the field. By revisiting reported data and observations, we discuss the involved mechanisms of attachment and propose new hypotheses for further research. Among others, we address the following questions: Do capillary and hydrodynamic forces explain the strong friction of the toe pads directly, or indirectly by promoting dry attachment mechanisms? If friction primarily relies on van der Waals (vdW) forces instead, how much do these forces contribute to adhesion in the wet environment tree frogs live in and what role does the mucus play? We show that both pad morphology and measured attachment performance suggest the coaction of several attachment mechanisms (e.g. capillary and hydrodynamic adhesion, mechanical interlocking, and vdW forces) with situation-dependent relative importance. Current analytical models of capillary and hydrodynamic adhesion, caused by the secreted mucus and by environmental liquids, do not capture the contributions of these mechanisms in a comprehensive and accurate way. We argue that the soft pad material and a hierarchical surface pattern on the ventral pad surface enhance the effective contact area and facilitate gap-closure by macro- to nanoscopic drainage of interstitial liquids, which may give rise to a significant contribution of vdW interactions to tree frog attachment. Increasing the comprehension of the complex mechanism of tree frog attachment contributes to a better understanding of other biological attachment systems (e.g. in geckos and insects) and is expected to stimulate the development of a wide array of bioinspired adhesive applications.
| S-EPMC6107968 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC5472256 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Tree frogs need to adhere to surfaces of various roughnesses in their natural habitats; these include bark, leaves and rocks. Rough surfaces can alter the effectiveness of their toe pads, due to factors such as a change of real contact area and abrasion of the pad epithelium. Here, we tested the effect of surface roughness on the attachment abilities of the tree frog Litoria caerulea. This was done by testing shear and adhesive forces on artificial surfaces with controlled roughness, both on single toe pads and whole animal scales. It was shown that frogs can stick 2-3 times better on small scale roughnesses (3-6 µm asperities), producing higher adhesive and frictional forces, but relatively poorly on the larger scale roughnesses tested (58.5-562.5 µm asperities). Our experiments suggested that, on such surfaces, the pads secrete insufficient fluid to fill the space under the pad, leaving air pockets that would significantly reduce the Laplace pressure component of capillarity. Therefore, we measured how well the adhesive toe pad would conform to spherical asperities of known sizes using interference reflection microscopy. Based on experiments where the conformation of the pad to individual asperities was examined microscopically, our calculations indicate that the pad epithelium has a low elastic modulus, making it highly deformable.
| S-EPMC5238669 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The presence of left atrial thrombus is a contraindication to cardioversion or catheter ablation in patients with atrial fibrillation, due to the increased risk of systemic thromboembolism. Management of this situation includes changes in the anticoagulation regimen and repeat imaging tests. Accurate diagnosis of left atrial appendage thrombus is therefore essential but can sometimes be challenging. Multiple imaging modalities may sometimes be required in the setting of anatomical variations of the left atrial appendage and surrounding structures. We present the case of a patient awaiting ablation for atypical atrial flutter, who underwent a transthoracic echocardiogram that showed an echodense, mobile structure within the vicinity of the left atrial appendage, suggesting a possible thrombus. A cardiac CT demonstrated the image to correlate with an epicardial fat pad within the transverse sinus.
| S-EPMC8116806 | biostudies-literature