Abstract
Though it is known that the water content of biological soft tissues alters mechanical properties, little attempt has been made to adjust the tissue water content prior to biomechanical testing as part of standardization procedures. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of altered water content on the macro and micro scale mechanical tissues properties. Human iliotibial band samples were obtained during autopsies to osmotically adapt their water content. Macro mechanical tensile testing of the samples was conducted with digital image correlation, and micro mechanical tests using atomic force microscopy. Analyses were conducted for elastic moduli, tensile strength, and strain at maximum force, and correlations for water content, anthropometric data, and post-mortem interval. Different mechanical properties exist at different water concentrations. Correlations to anthropometric data are more likely to be found at water concentrations close to the native state. These data underline the need for adapting the water content of soft tissues for macro and micro biomechanical experiments to optimize their validity. The osmotic stress protocol provides a feasible and reliable standardization approach to adjust for water content-related differences induced by age at death, post-mortem interval and tissue processing time with known impact on the stress-strain properties.
Highlights
It is widely present within soft biological tissues forming a major component, water is often overlooked as a factor affecting the biomechanical properties in most testing and standardization protocols
The study aimed at determining if an adaptation of soft tissue water content may form a necessary step for reliable biomechanical testing, and if this applies to both a macro mechanical and a micro mechanical scale
By using the osmotic stress technique, the water content of human iliotibial band specimens was altered in a standardized manner to understand its influence on the mechanical properties and to assess if the water content should be standardized for mechanical tests
Summary
It is widely present within soft biological tissues forming a major component, water is often overlooked as a factor affecting the biomechanical properties in most testing and standardization protocols. The osmotic stress technique can be used as an experimental model to alter the tissue water content, thereby quantifying the effects onto mechanical properties This technique is used frequently for water adjustment for nanoscale biomechanics assessed by NMR spectroscopy[5,10], and increasingly in macro scale biomechanics[2,6,7]. This given study aimed at quantifying the effect of altered water content on tissue biomechanics at different scales, utilizing the human iliotibial band as a model for collagen-rich tissues and applying the osmotic stress technique. The study aimed at determining if an adaptation of soft tissue water content may form a necessary step for reliable biomechanical testing, and if this applies to both a macro mechanical and a micro mechanical scale
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