Virtualisation of stress distribution in heart valve tissue.
This study presents an image-based finite element analysis incorporating histological photomicrographs of heart valve tissues. We report stress fields inside heart valve tissues, where heterogeneously distributed collagen fibres are responsible for transmitting forces into cells. Linear isotropic and anisotropic tissue material property models are incorporated to quantify the overall stress distributions in heart valve tissues. By establishing an effective predictive method with new computational tools and by performing virtual experiments on the heart valve tissue photomicrographs, we clarify how stresses are transferred from matrix to cell. The results clearly reveal the roles of heterogeneously distributed collagen fibres in mitigating stress developments inside heart valve tissues. Moreover, most local peak stresses occur around cell nuclei, suggesting that higher stress may be mediated by cells for biomechanical regulations.
['Huang|Siyao|S|', 'Huang|Hsiao-Ying Shadow|HY|']
D016880:Anisotropy D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena D002467:Cell Nucleus D003094:Collagen D003198:Computer Simulation D003238:Connective Tissue D020342:Finite Element Analysis D006321:Heart D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis D006351:Heart Valves D006801:Humans D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted D013314:Stress, Mechanical
heart valve tissue collagen fibre architecture finite element method stress analysis