Inflation-extension Tests Research Articles

Biomechanical and histological characteristics of passive esophagus: Experimental investigation and comparative constitutive modeling

Information on the passive biomechanical properties of two-layered esophagus is still limited, although this would enhance our understanding of its physiology/pathophysiology and help to address problems in surgery, medical-device applications, and for the optimal design of prostheses. In this study, rabbit esophagi were excised and dissected into mucosa–submucosa and muscle layers that were submitted to histological quantification of elastin and collagen content and orientation, as well as to inflation-extension testing and geometrical analysis, i.e. delineation of the zero-stress state serving as a reference configuration for biomechanical analysis. The pressure–radius data of both layers displayed a monotonically rising slope with inflating pressure, unlike the sigma shape characterizing elastin-rich tissues, for which biphasic constitutive models were initially postulated. Three phenomenological expressions of strain-energy function (SEF), commonly appearing in soft-tissue biomechanics literature, were used in an attempt to model the pseudoelastic response of esophageal tissue, namely the exponential Fung-type SEF, and the combined neo-Hookean (isotropic) or quadratic (anisotropic) and exponential Fung-type SEF. Accurate fits were attained for the pressure–radius–force data, spanning a wide range of longitudinal stretch ratios, when using the exponential form; the biphasic SEFs failed to generate improved fits, being also over-parameterized. According to the calculated material parameters, mucosa–submucosa was stiffer than muscle in both directions, justified by our histological observation of increased collagen content in that layer, and tissue was stiffer longitudinally, substantiated by the increased elastin and collagen contents and their preferential alignment towards that direction. Our results demonstrate that the passive response of esophagus is best modeled with an exponential Fung-type SEF.

A Structural Model of the Venous Wall Considering Elastin Anisotropy

The three-dimensional biomechanical behavior of the vascular wall is best described by means of strain energy functions. Significant effort has been devoted lately in the development of structure-based models of the vascular wall, which account for the individual contribution of each major structural component (elastin, collagen, and vascular smooth muscle). However, none of the currently proposed structural models succeeded in simultaneously and accurately describing both the pressure-radius and pressure-longitudinal force curves. We have hypothesized that shortcomings of the current models are, in part, due to unaccounted anisotropic properties of elastin. We extended our previously developed biomechanical model to account for elastin anisotropy. The experimental data were obtained from inflation-extension tests on facial veins of five young white New Zealand rabbits. Tests have been carried out under a fully relaxed state of smooth muscle cells for longitudinal stretch ratios ranging from 100% to 130% of the in vivo length. The experimental data (pressure-radius, pressure-force, and zero-stress-state geometries) provided a complete biaxial mechanical characterization of rabbit facial vein and served as the basis for validating the applicability and accuracy of the new biomechanical model of the venous wall. When only the pressure-radius curves were fitted, both the anisotropic and the isotropic models gave excellent results. However, when both pressure-radius and pressure-force curves are simultaneously fitted, the model with isotropic elastin shows an average weighted residual sum of squares of 8.94 and 23.9 in the outer radius and axial force, respectively, as compared to averages of 6.07 and 4.00, when anisotropic elastin is considered. Both the Alkaike information criterion and Schwartz criterion show that the model with the anisotropic elastin is more successful in predicting the data for a wide range of longitudinal stretch ratios. We conclude that anisotropic description of elastin is required for a full 3D characterization of the biomechanics of the venous wall.