Quantitative Assessment of Tendon Hierarchical Structure by Combined Second Harmonic Generation and Immunofluorescence Microscopy

The alteration of the structure and macroscopic mechanical response of porcine patellar tendon by elastase digestion

Background: The treatment of patellar tendon injury has always been an unsolved problem, and mechanical characterization is very important for its repair and reconstruction. Elastin is a contributor to mechanics, but it is not clear how it affects the elasticity, viscoelastic properties, and structure of patellar tendon. Methods: The patellar tendons from six fresh adult experimental pigs were used in this study and they were made into 77 samples. The patellar tendon was specifically degraded by elastase, and the regional mechanical response and structural changes were investigated by: (1) Based on the previous study of elastase treatment conditions, the biochemical quantification of collagen, glycosaminoglycan and total protein was carried out; (2) The patellar tendon was divided into the proximal, central, and distal regions, and then the axial tensile test and stress relaxation test were performed before and after phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) or elastase treatment; (3) The dynamic constitutive model was established by the obtained mechanical data; (4) The structural relationship between elastin and collagen fibers was analyzed by two-photon microscopy and histology. Results: There was no statistical difference in mechanics between patellar tendon regions. Compared with those before elastase treatment, the low tensile modulus decreased by 75%-80%, the high tensile modulus decreased by 38%-47%, and the transition strain was prolonged after treatment. For viscoelastic behavior, the stress relaxation increased, the initial slope increased by 55%, the saturation slope increased by 44%, and the transition time increased by 25% after enzyme treatment. Elastin degradation made the collagen fibers of patellar tendon become disordered and looser, and the fiber wavelength increased significantly. Conclusion: The results of this study show that elastin plays an important role in the mechanical properties and fiber structure stability of patellar tendon, which supplements the structure-function relationship information of patellar tendon. The established constitutive model is of great significance to the prediction, repair and replacement of patellar tendon injury. In addition, human patellar tendon has a higher elastin content, so the results of this study can provide supporting information on the natural properties of tendon elastin degradation and guide the development of artificial patellar tendon biomaterials.

Mechanical characterisation of the human dura mater, falx cerebri and superior sagittal sinus

The cranial meninges have been shown to play a pivotal role in traumatic brain injury mechanopathology. However, while the mechanical response of the brain and its many subregions have been studied extensively, the meninges have conventionally been overlooked. This paper presents the first comparative mechanical analysis of human dura mater, falx cerebri and superior sagittal sinus tissues. Biaxial tensile analysis identified that these tissues are mechanically heterogeneous, in contrast to the assumption that the tissues are mechanically homogeneous which is typically employed in FE model design. A thickness of 0.91 ± 0.05 (standard error) mm for the falx cerebri was also identified. This data can aid in improving the biofidelity of the influential falx structure in FE models. Additionally, the use of a collagen hybridizing peptide on the superior sagittal sinus suggests this structure is particularly susceptible to the effects of circumferential stretch, which may have important implications for clinical treatment of dural venous sinus pathologies. Collectively, this research progresses understanding of meningeal mechanical and structural characteristics and may aid in elucidating the behaviour of these tissues in healthy and diseased conditions. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: This study presents the first evaluation of human falx cerebri and superior sagittal sinus mechanical, geometrical and structural properties, along with a comparison to cranial dura mater. To mechanically characterise the tissues, biaxial tensile testing is conducted on the tissues. This analysis identifies, for the first time, mechanical stiffness differences between these tissues. Additionally, geometrical analysis identifies that there are thickness differences between the tissues. The evaluation of human meningeal tissues allows for direct implementation of the novel data to finite element head injury models to enable improved biofidelity of these influential structures in traumatic brain injury simulations. This work also identifies that the superior sagittal sinus may be easily damaged during clinical angioplasty procedures, which may inform the treatment of dural sinus pathologies.

Mechanical Properties of the Cranial Meninges: A Systematic Review

The meninges are membranous tissues that are pivotal in maintaining homeostasis of the central nervous system. Despite the importance of the cranial meninges in nervous system physiology and in head injury mechanics, our knowledge of the tissues' mechanical behavior and structural composition is limited. This systematic review analyzes the existing literature on the mechanical properties of the meningeal tissues. Publications were identified from a search of Scopus, Academic Search Complete, and Web of Science and screened for eligibility according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The review details the wide range of testing techniques employed to date and the significant variability in the observed experimental findings. Our findings identify many gaps in the current literature that can serve as a guide for future work for meningeal mechanics investigators. The review identifies no peer-reviewed mechanical data on the falx and tentorium tissues, both of which have been identified as key structures in influencing brain injury mechanics. A dearth of mechanical data for the pia-arachnoid complex also was identified (no experimental mechanics studies on the human pia-arachnoid complex were identified), which is desirable for biofidelic modeling of human head injuries. Finally, this review provides recommendations on how experiments can be conducted to allow for standardization of test methodologies, enabling simplified comparisons and conclusions on meningeal mechanics.