Viscoelastic mechanical measurement of the healthy and atherosclerotic human coronary arteries using DIC technique

Abstract

PurposeAtherosclerotic is a specific form of vascular disease showed to be in charge of the 30% of mortalities in the United States alone. Many studies so far have been reported on the linear and nonlinear mechanical properties of the human and animal coronary arteries. However, the Quasilinear Viscoelastic (QLV) mechanical behavior of the healthy and atherosclerotic human coronary arteries have not been well quantified in spite of the time-dependent mechanical behavior of the arterial walls. This study was aimed to set up a new relaxation viscoelastic tests to characterize the QLV parameters of the healthy and atherosclerotic human coronary arteries. MethodsTen healthy and atherosclerotic human coronary arteries were subjected to relaxation test and the QLV parameters were calculated by comparing the QLV model to that of stress-relaxation data. ResultsThe findings showed the highest stress in the atherosclerotic coronary samples (292.02 ± 18.14 kPa) (Mean ± SD) which is found to be higher than that of the healthy ones (18.12 ± 2.88 kPa) (p < 0.05). In addition, the stress-relaxation diagrams showed that the healthy coronary arteries can reach to a balance in slightly a lower time (1400 ± 24.15 sec) compared to the atherosclerotic ones (1800 ± 38.12 sec) (p < 0.05). ConclusionsThese data might provide a deep understanding not only for the viscoelastic time dependent mechanical behavior of the healthy and atherosclerotic human coronary arteries but also for the biomechanical experts in different fields of research including, tissue engineering, intervention and bypass surgery and stenting.