Ex vivo testing reveals significant differences in elastic properties and stress distributions in arterial layers, suggesting implications for vascular mechanics.
The aim of the present study was to determine the variation in elastic properties and the distribution of stresses and prestresses in an artery with a distinct two-layer (media-adventitia) structure. Ex vivo tests were carried out on excised segments of pig aortas. Measurement of the opening angles and inflation-extension tests were performed first on the entire segment and subsequently on the same segment after removal of the inner or outer half of the wall material. This procedure permits the estimation of elastic properties as well as the distribution of stresses in each half of the wall. The results show that: 1) opening angles and prestresses are different in each layer, 2) each layer has distinctly different elastic properties, 3) at physiological pressure stresses are uniformly distributed in each layer, however, the level of stress is markedly different in each layer, with the inner half (media) experiencing much higher level of stresses that the outer half.
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Stergiopulos et al. (1995) studied this question.
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