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Cardiac Tissue Structure, Properties, and Performance: A Materials Science Perspective

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Abstract

From an engineering perspective, many forms of heart disease can be thought of as a reduction in biomaterial performance, in which the biomaterial is the tissue comprising the ventricular wall. In materials science, the structure and properties of a material are recognized to be interconnected with performance. In addition, for most measurements of structure, properties, and performance, some processing is required. Here, we review the current state of knowledge regarding cardiac tissue structure, properties, and performance as well as the processing steps taken to acquire those measurements. Understanding the impact of these factors and their interactions may enhance our understanding of heart function and heart failure. We also review design considerations for cardiac tissue property and performance measurements because, to date, most data on cardiac tissue has been obtained under non-physiological loading conditions. Novel measurement systems that account for these design considerations may improve future experiments and lead to greater insight into cardiac tissue structure, properties, and ultimately performance.

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Acknowledgements

Our work was supported by NIH grants 1R01HL086939 (NCC) and 1R37HL82900 (RLM). The authors thank Carol Dizack for preparing the illustrations and Dr. Jitandrakumar Patel for unpublished force-pCa data.

Conflict of interest

None declared.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, UW-Madison College of Engineering, 2146 Engineering Centers Building, 1550 Engineering Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Mark Golob & Naomi C. Chesler

  2. Material Science Program, UW-Madison College of Engineering, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Mark Golob

  3. Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology, UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Richard L. Moss

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  1. Mark Golob
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Correspondence to Naomi C. Chesler.

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Associate Editor Jane Grande-Allen oversaw the review of this article.

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Golob, M., Moss, R.L. & Chesler, N.C. Cardiac Tissue Structure, Properties, and Performance: A Materials Science Perspective. Ann Biomed Eng 42, 2003–2013 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-014-1071-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-014-1071-z

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