Abstract
The hierarchical structure and organization of collagen plays an integral role in the mechanical behavior of heart valve tissues, but with few exceptions the degree of collagen fiber crimp has not been extensively quantified. Given our recent demonstration of age-dependent and region-dependent variations in mechanical behavior of heart valves, this study quantified crimp period and amplitude in all four heart valves as a function of orientation (circumferential vs. radial), age (6 week, 6 month, and 6 year old pigs), and region (mitral anterior leaflet center vs. free edge). Polarized light microscopy of picrosirius red stained sections revealed that collagen crimp was generally consistent between the circumferential and radial directions, although for the pulmonary valve there was a greater crimp period circumferentially than radially. Comparing all valves and orientations showed that the crimp period was greatest circumferentially in the center of the mitral anterior leaflet. With respect to age, crimp period was lowest in the 6 month old aortic valve (matching previously reported patterns of aortic valve leaflet extensibility) and highest in the 6 month old mitral anterior leaflet center. Interestingly, the differences in magnitudes of crimp amplitude mimicked the crimp period data, suggesting a scaling phenomenon in collagen fiber crimping.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Elizabeth Stephens, M.D., Ph.D., for providing some of the porcine valve samples. This research was funded by the March of Dimes.
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© 2014 The Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc.
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Kreuz, J.M., Erskine, K.N., Blancas, A.A., Grande-Allen, K.J. (2014). Age and Regional Dependence of Collagen Crimp in Heart Valves. In: Barthelat, F., Zavattieri, P., Korach, C., Prorok, B., Grande-Allen, K. (eds) Mechanics of Biological Systems and Materials, Volume 4. Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00777-9_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00777-9_3
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