Acute mechanical effects of elastase on the infrarenal mouse aorta: implications for models of aneurysms. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Intraluminal exposure of the infrarenal aorta to porcine pancreatic elastase represents one of the most commonly used experimental models of the development and progression of abdominal aortic aneurysms. Morphological and histological effects of elastase on the aortic wall have been well documented in multiple rodent models, but there has been little attention to the associated effects on mechanical properties. In this paper, we present the first biaxial mechanical data on, and associated nonlinear constitutive descriptors of, the effects of elastase on the infrarenal aorta in mice. Quantification of the dramatic, acute effects of elastase on wall behavior in vitro is an essential first step toward understanding the growth and remodeling of aneurysms in vivo, which depends on both the initial changes in the mechanics and the subsequent inflammation-mediated turnover of cells and extracellular matrix that contributes to the evolving mechanics.

published proceedings

  • J Biomech

author list (cited authors)

  • Collins, M. J., Eberth, J. F., Wilson, E., & Humphrey, J. D.

citation count

  • 33

complete list of authors

  • Collins, MJ||Eberth, JF||Wilson, E||Humphrey, JD

publication date

  • January 2012