On the form and bio-mechanics of venom-injection elements

作     者：Bar-On, Benny 

作者机构：Ben Gurion Univ Negev Dept Mech Engn IL-84105 Beer Sheva Israel 

出 版 物：《ACTA BIOMATERIALIA》 (生物材料学报)

年 卷 期：2019年第85卷

页      面：263-271页

核心收录：

学科分类：0831[工学-生物医学工程（可授工学、理学、医学学位）] 0710[理学-生物学] 071010[理学-生物化学与分子生物学] 07[理学] 0805[工学-材料科学与工程（可授工学、理学学位）] 

基　　金：Israel Science Foundation [1429/16] 

主　　题：Bio-mechanics Venom-injection element Mechanics of biomaterials Structure-function relationships Analytical modeling 

摘      要：A wide variety of animals-from insects to snakes-crucially depend on their ability to inject venom into their target, be it their prey or their predator. To effectively deliver their venom, venomous animals use a specialized biomechanical element whose tip must penetrate through the integument of the target. During this process, the tip of the venom-injection element (VIE) is subject to local forces, which may deform it and cause considerable structural damage to the VIE, with devastating consequences for the survival of the animal or, in the case of eusocial insects, to the colony. Hence, it is plausible that millions of years of evolution have carefully shaped the architecture of VIEs across different taxa toward a similar mechanical function, namely, to effectively resist the mechanical forces exerted on the tip. The present study aims to identify such a common architecture by analyzing the form-function relationships in various biological VIEs. A universal structural modeling, which quantifies the fundamental geometrical characteristics of a wide range of VIEs is constituted, and a theoretical mechanical framework that analytically correlates these characteristics with the material stress fields is introduced. This investigation reveals that the architecture of biological VIEs reduces the magnitude of applied stresses and confines the maximal stress to the near-tip region of the element. The presented analytical approach and modeling can be straightforwardly applied to various other types of bio-mechanical elements and can potentially be employed for developing a new class of microscopic injection elements for bio-medical and engineering applications. Statement of Significance Venomous animals-both vertebrate and invertebrate-use an extremely wide variety of venom-injection elements to incapacitate their prey or predator. Despite the clear differences in their typical dimensions, shapes, and evolutionary paths, all venom-injection elements have evolved to perf