{"doi":"10.1016/j.jmbbm.2025.106926","title":"Impact of paraben on uterine collagen: An integrated and targeted Correlative approach using second harmonic generation microscopy, nanoindentation, and atomic force microscopy","abstract":"This study investigates the structural and mechanical changes in uterine collagen following exposure to propylparaben (PP) using a combined methodology of Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) microscopy, Nanoindentation (NI), and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). SHG analysis identified significant disorganization in collagen fibril orientation in the circumferential layer and heterogeneous distribution of regions with elevated forward to backward ratios (F/B) across all uterine layers due to PP exposure. High F/B can indicate multiple potential fibril-level changes like thickened fibrils, higher crosslinking, fibril disorganization - changes not fully decipherable by SHG alone. Recognizing this limitation, the study employs NI and AFM to provide complementary mechanical and nanoscale insights. NI revealed increased indentation modulus in the exposed uteri, suggesting increased stiffness. Co-registration of the indentation response with SHG parameters uncovered that elevated F/B regions show enhanced mechanical stiffness, suggesting a fibrotic transformation following chronic PP exposure. AFM was specifically performed on regions identified by SHG as having low or high F/B, providing the necessary nanoscale resolution to elucidate the structural changes in fibrils that are likely responsible for the observed alterations. AFM confirmed the presence of disordered and entangled collagen fibrils in the circumferential layer in all regions and an increase in fibril diameter in the high F/B regions in the PP-exposed uteri. Together, these findings demonstrate significant alterations in collagen architecture due to PP exposure, revealing disruptions at both the fiber and fibril levels and highlighting the potential for broader applications of the multi-scale, multi-modal approach in collagenous tissue studies. • Paraben disrupts collagen structure in the uterus circumferential layer (SHG, AFM). • Paraben elevates the forward/backward signal intensity ratio (F/B) in uterus (SHG). • High F/B regions are heterogeneous in all layers in paraben exposed uteri (SHG). • Higher indentation modulus in high F/B regions, suggesting fibrosis (indentation). • Thicker and disorganized fibrils in high F/B regions, also indicating fibrosis (AFM).","journal":"Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials/Journal of mechanical behavior of biomedical materials","year":2025,"id":533216,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":2,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9637,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1109514,"name":"Ritwik Shukla","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1356961,"name":"Jie Li","orcid":"0000-0001-7812-2612","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":568258,"name":"Umnia Doha","orcid":"0000-0003-2105-1053","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":644886,"name":"Indrani C. Bagchi","orcid":"0000-0001-6032-2632","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1224842,"name":"Ayelet Ziv‐Gal","orcid":"0000-0002-4748-5338","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":519214,"name":"Amy J. Wagoner Johnson","orcid":"0000-0001-8396-3803","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1067708,"name":"A. Mahmuda","orcid":"0000-0001-6455-2865","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":67,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:51:32.301795Z","pmid":"39946870","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}