Passive Biaxial Tensile Dataset of Three Main Rat Heart Myocardia: Left Ventricle, Mid-Wall and Right Ventricle

This article presents raw data of biaxial tensile measurements of rat heart passive myocardium conducted in lab scale environment. The passive myocardium of the rat was divided into three regions, namely: left ventricle, mid-wall and right ventricle. The biaxial dataset of passive rat myocardia is presented as stress vs strain of the passive rat myocardium in various regions. The determination of valid material properties of the heart plays an important role in the development computational models. These computational models are useful in studying various scenarios and mechanisms of heart diseases. In addition, valid and accurate materials are critical in the development of new therapies. The dataset presented here is useful in the area of soft tissue mechanics including studying the mechanisms of heart diseases such as myocardial infarction. Accordingly, the evaluation of stress and strain in left ventricle, mid-wall and right ventricle was performed.

Mechanical Properties of Female Reproductive Organs and Supporting Connective Tissues: A Review of the Current State of Knowledge

Although there has been an upsurge of interest in research on women's sexual and reproductive health, most of the research has remained confined to the obstetrics and gynecology disciplines, without knowledge flow to the biomechanics community. Thus, the mechanics of the female reproductive system and the changes determined by pregnancy, age, obesity, and various medical conditions have not been thoroughly studied. In recent years, more investigators have been focusing their efforts on evaluating the mechanical properties of the reproductive organs and supportive connective tissues, but, despite the many advances, there is still a lot that remains to be done. This paper provides an overview of the research published over the past few decades on the mechanical characterization of the primary female reproductive organs and supporting connective tissues. For each organ and tissue, after a brief description of the function and structure, the testing methods and main mechanical results are presented. Constitutive equations are then reviewed for all organs/tissues together. The goal is to spark the interest of new investigators to this largely untapped but fast-evolving branch of soft tissue mechanics that will impact women's gynecologic, reproductive, and sexual health care.

Quantifying Cartilage Contact Modulus, Tension Modulus, and Permeability With Hertzian Biphasic Creep

This paper describes a new method, based on a recent analytical model (Hertzian biphasic theory (HBT)), to simultaneously quantify cartilage contact modulus, tension modulus, and permeability. Standard Hertzian creep measurements were performed on 13 osteochondral samples from three mature bovine stifles. Each creep dataset was fit for material properties using HBT. A subset of the dataset (N = 4) was also fit using Oyen's method and FEBio, an open-source finite element package designed for soft tissue mechanics. The HBT method demonstrated statistically significant sensitivity to differences between cartilage from the tibial plateau and cartilage from the femoral condyle. Based on the four samples used for comparison, no statistically significant differences were detected between properties from the HBT and FEBio methods. While the finite element method is considered the gold standard for analyzing this type of contact, the expertise and time required to setup and solve can be prohibitive, especially for large datasets. The HBT method agreed quantitatively with FEBio but also offers ease of use by nonexperts, rapid solutions, and exceptional fit quality (R2 = 0.999 ± 0.001, N = 13).