Brownian dynamics simulations are used to study highly entangled solutions of semiflexible polymers. Bending fluctuations of semiflexible rods are significantly affected by entanglement only above a concentration c**, where c**~10³L^-3 for chains of length L similar to their persistence length. For c>c**, the tube radius Rₑ approaches a dependence Rₑ∝c^-3∕5 and the linear viscoelastic response develops an elastic plateau that is absent for c<c**. Experiments on isotropic solutions of F-actin are shown to span concentrations near c** for which the predicted asymptotic scaling of the plateau modulus, G∝c7∕5, is not yet valid.
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Ramanathan et al. (2007) studied this question.
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