Physiology-based model of cell viscoelasticity

The measured viscoelastic properties of biological tissues is the result of the passive and active response of the cells. We propose an evolution law of the remodeling process in the cytoskeleton which is able to mimic the viscous properties of biological cellular tissues. Our model is based on dynamical changes of the resting length. We show that under the small strain regime, the linear rheology models are recovered, with the relaxation time being replaced by the cell resistance to remodel. We implement the one-dimensional model into network systems of two and three dimensions, and show that the same conclusions may be drawn for those systems.