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The Association Between Curvature and Rupture in a Murine Model of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm and Dissection

  • Sp Iss: Experimental Advances in Cardiovascular Biomechanics
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Abstract

Background

Mouse models of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and dissection have proven to be invaluable in the advancement of diagnostics and therapeutics by providing a platform to decipher response variables that are elusive in human populations. One such model involves systemic Angiotensin II (Ang-II) infusion into low density-lipoprotein receptor-deficient (LDLr−/−) mice leading to intramural thrombus formation, inflammation, matrix degradation, dilation, and dissection. Despite its effectiveness, considerable experimental variability has been observed in AAAs taken from our Ang-II infused LDLr−/− mice (n = 12) with obvious dissection occurring in 3 samples, outer bulge radii ranging from 0.73 to 2.12 mm, burst pressures ranging from 155 to 540 mmHg, and rupture location occurring 0.05 to 2.53 mm from the peak bulge location.

Objective

We hypothesized that surface curvature, a fundamental measure of shape, could serve as a useful predictor of AAA failure at supra-physiological inflation pressures.

Methods

To test this hypothesis, we fit well-known biquadratic surface patches to 360o micro-mechanical test data and used Spearman’s rank correlation (rho) to identify relationships between failure metrics and curvature indices.

Results

We found the strongest associations between burst pressure and the maximum value of the first principal curvature (rho = −0.591, p-val = 0.061), the maximum value of Mean curvature (rho = −0.545, p-val = 0.087), and local values of Mean curvature at the burst location (rho = −0.864, p-val = 0.001) with only the latter significant after Bonferroni correction. Additionally, the surface profile at failure was predominantly convex and hyperbolic (saddle-shaped) as indicated by a negative sign in the Gaussian curvature. Findings reiterate the importance of shape in experimental models of AAA.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the statistical guidance provided by Dr. Jan M. Eberth, the conceptual contributions of Dr. Susan M. Lessner, and the technical assistance of Liya Du to this project.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health under grant number R01HL133662.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomedical Engineering Program, University of South Carolina, 301 Main Street, Columbia, South Carolina, 29208, USA

    B.A. Lane, M.J. Uline, T. Shazly & J.F. Eberth

  2. Chemical Engineering Department, University of South Carolina, 301 Main Street, Columbia, South Carolina, 29208, USA

    M.J. Uline

  3. Bioengineering Department, Clemson University, 301 Rhodes Research Center, Clemson, South Carolina, 29634, USA

    X. Wang & N.R. Vyavahare

  4. Mechanical Engineering Department, University of South Carolina, 300 Main Street, Columbia, South Carolina, 29208, USA

    T. Shazly

  5. Cell Biology and Anatomy Department, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Building 1, Room C-36, Columbia, South Carolina, 29208, USA

    J.F. Eberth

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  1. B.A. Lane
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Correspondence to J.F. Eberth.

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The authors have no competing conflicts of interest that could have influenced the findings of this paper. All animal procedures were approved by the Clemson University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).

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Lane, B., Uline, M., Wang, X. et al. The Association Between Curvature and Rupture in a Murine Model of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm and Dissection. Exp Mech 61, 203–216 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-020-00661-x

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