An investigation of the effect of freezing storage on the biaxial mechanical properties of excised porcine tricuspid valve anterior leaflets.

In this study, we aimed to address this gap in knowledge by performing biaxial mechanical characterizations of the tricuspid valve anterior leaflet (TVAL) tissue both before and after a 48-h freezing period. Primary findings of this study include: (i) a statistically insignificant change in the tissue extensibilities, with the frozen tissues being slightly stiffer and more anisotropic than the fresh tissues; and (ii) minimal variations in the stress relaxation behaviors between the fresh and frozen tissues, with the frozen tissues demonstrating slightly lessened relaxation. The findings from this study suggested that freezing-based storage does not significantly impact the observed mechanical properties of one of the five AHV leaflets-the TVAL. The results from this study are useful for reaffirming the experimental methodologies in the previous studies, as well as informing the tissue preservation methods of future investigations of AHV leaflet mechanics. PMID: 31542570 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials - Category: Materials Science Authors: Tags: J Mech Behav Biomed Mater Source Type: research