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Development of Mechanical and Failure Properties in Sheep Cerebral Arteries

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Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a devastating problem for people of all ages, but the nature of the response to such injury is often different in children than in adults. Cerebral vessel damage and dysfunction are common following TBI, but age-dependent, large-deformation vessel response has not been characterized. Our objective was to investigate the mechanical properties of cerebral arteries as a function of development. Sheep middle cerebral arteries from four age groups (fetal, newborn, juvenile, and adult) were subjected to biaxial loading around physiological conditions and then to failure in the axial direction. Results show little difference among age groups under physiological loading conditions, but response varied significantly with age in response to large axial deformation. Vessels from all age groups reached the same ultimate stretch level, but the amount of stress carried at a given level of stretch increased significantly with age through the developmental period (fetal to juvenile). Our results are the first to identify changes in cerebral vessel response to large deformations with age and may lead to new insights regarding differences in response to TBI with age.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support was provided, in part, by the Primary Children’s Medical Center Foundation (PCMCF-ISA-KM-01-2012-02 to KLM) and by the National Institutes of Health (HL-110002 to KHA). The authors report no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, 1495 E. 100 S., MEK 1550, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA

    Kevin S. Nye, Matthew I. Converse & Kenneth L. Monson

  2. Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Mar Janna Dahl & Kurt H. Albertine

  3. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Kurt H. Albertine

  4. Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Kurt H. Albertine

  5. Department of Bioengineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Kenneth L. Monson

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  1. Kevin S. Nye
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Correspondence to Kenneth L. Monson.

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Associate Editor Peter E. McHugh oversaw the review of this article.

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Nye, K.S., Converse, M.I., Dahl, M.J. et al. Development of Mechanical and Failure Properties in Sheep Cerebral Arteries. Ann Biomed Eng 45, 1101–1110 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-016-1741-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-016-1741-0

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