The Structure and Mechanical Properties of Type IV Collagen in Lens Basement Membrane: Deterioration with Age and Glycation Reviewed

Biomedical physics seeks to confront the amazingly intricate sets of interlinked processes that when in synchrony sustain life. In so doing, questions arise regarding the functionality of cells, organised tissues and organs and the myriad interactional processes required, and also as to how the onset of disease limits viability and what possible repair processes can be caused to happen, including in biosynthetic routes. It is clearly a multidisciplinary field providing a multi-pronged array of endeavours, bringing into play concepts and tools within the armoury of physics, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, and all of the applied areas that arise from these. As expected, the pursuit is beset by ignorance and in the absence of a polymath, the ability to progress is clearly a team effort. Not least among the challenges are that oftentimes the medium under investigation no longer enjoys the vitality of life, including when using in vitro techniques acknowledging that in excised tissues repair processes are clearly inoperative. As such, questions inevitably arise as to whether the results of an investigation bear resemblance to that of the living entity. Here, we will focus on just one example of such a pursuit, namely investigations of degraded vision arising from alterations in the basement membrane (BM). We address alterations that may arise from diabetes and ageing, which are changes that bring about life-altering disability. In examining this one area of biophysical investigation, we hope that the reader will gain a degree of appreciation of the need for such studies even if, as here, we simply represent just one particular aspect of what are clearly complex areas. At the outset, we simply mention that the BM forming the eye lens capsule is a highly specialised form of extracellular matrix in which the major structural element is a network of type IV collagen. Changes in the structure and mechanical properties of the BM are believed to be associated with the pathophysiology of ageing and diseases, including diabetes and cancer.