Sea cucumbers can quickly change the body hardness to provide a "template" for medical materials.

Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London have found for the first time that sea cucumbers can "deform"-quickly change the hardness of their bodies, which will provide a valuable basis for the development of new biomaterials for medical applications, according to the physics website.

Collagen tissue exists in all animals, but one kind of marine invertebrate, echinoderms (including sea cucumbers and starfish), has unique properties that can quickly change the hardness of the body. This type of collagen, called variable collagen tissue (MCT), is controlled by the nervous system and is useful when these creatures encounter predators who need to "become gelatinous." The team at Queen Mary College used X-ray techniques to analyze the body wall of sea cucumbers. Sea cucumbers can change the shape of the body wall because it can change the hardness of the protein-rich interfibril matrix, which binds to collagen fibers.

"the variable collagen tissue in sea cucumbers may be a template for biomimetic materials," said the head of the study. it can be used to design flexible scaffolding for tissue engineering, cosmetic wrinkle removal for anti-aging skin, implantable biosensors and software robot materials. "