A structural finite element model for lamellar unit of aortic media indicates heterogeneous stress field after collagen recruitment.

ABSTRACT: Incorporation of collagen structural information into the study of biomechanical behavior of ascending thoracic aortic (ATA) wall tissue should provide better insight into the pathophysiology of ATA. Structurally motivated constitutive models that include fiber dispersion and recruitment can successfully capture overall mechanical response of the arterial wall tissue. However, these models cannot examine local microarchitectural features of the collagen network, such as the effect of fiber disruptions and interaction between fibrous and non-fibrous components, which may influence emergent biomechanical properties of the tissue. Motivated by this need, we developed a finite element based three-dimensional structural model of the lamellar units of the ATA media that directly incorporates the

SUBMITTER: Thunes JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4885793 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature