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Using Digital Image Correlation to Characterize Local Strains on Vascular Tissue Specimens

Characterization of the mechanical behavior of biological and engineered soft tissues is a central component of fundamental biomedical research and ...

University of South Carolina

Fully bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BVS) are attractive platforms for the treatment of ischemic artery disease owing to their intrinsic ability to uncage the treated vessel after the initial scaffolding phase, thereby allowing for the physiological conditioning that is essential to cellular function and vessel healing. Although scaffold erosion confers distinct advantages over permanent endovascular devices, high transient by-product concentrations within the arterial wall could induce inflammatory and immune responses. To better understand these risks, we developed in this study an integrated computational model that characterizes the bulk degradation and by-product fate for a representative BVS composed of poly(L-lactide) (PLLA). Parametric studies were conducted to evaluate the relative impact of PLLA degradation rate, arterial remodeling, and metabolic activity on the local lactic acid (LA) concentration within arterial tissue. The model predicts that both tissue remodeling and PLLA degradation kinetics jointly modulate LA fate and suggests that a synchrony of these processes could minimize transient concentrations within local tissue. Furthermore, simulations indicate that LA metabolism is a relatively poor tissue clearance mechanism compared to convective and diffusive transport processes. Mechanistic understanding of factors governing by-product fate may provide further insights on clinical outcome and facilitate development of future generation scaffolds.

Assessment of material by-product fate from bioresorbable vascular scaffolds.

Fully erodible endovascular scaffolds are being increasingly considered for the treatment of obstructive arterial disease owing to their potential to mitigate long-term risks associated with permanent alternatives. While complete scaffold erosion facilitates vessel healing, generation and release of material degradation by-products from candidate materials such as poly-L-lactide (PLLA) may elicit local inflammatory responses that limit implant efficacy. We developed a computational framework to quantify how the compositional and structural parameters of PLLA-based fully erodible endovascular scaffolds affect degradation kinetics, erosion kinetics and the transient accumulation of material by-products within the arterial wall. Parametric studies reveal that, while some material properties have similar effects on these critical processes, others induce qualitatively opposing responses. For example, scaffold degradation is only mildly responsive to changes in either PLLA polydispersity or the initial degree of crystallinity, while the erosion kinetics is comparatively sensitive to crystallinity. Moreover, lactide doping can effectively tune both scaffold degradation and erosion, but a concomitant increase in local by-product accumulation raises concerns about implant safety. Optimized erodible endovascular scaffolds must precisely balance therapeutic function and biological response over the implant lifetime, where compositional and structural parameters will have differential effects on implant performance.

Impact of polymer structure and composition on fully resorbable endovascular scaffold performance.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) can induce prolonged spinal cord compression that may result in a reduction of local tissue perfusion, progressive ischemia, and potentially irreversible tissue necrosis. Due to the combination of risk factors and the varied presentation of symptoms, the appropriate method and time course for clinical intervention following SCI are not always evident. In this study, a three-dimensional finite element fluid-structure interaction model of the cervical spinal cord was developed to examine how traditionally sub-clinical compressive mechanical loads impact spinal arterial blood flow. The spinal cord and surrounding dura mater were modeled as linear elastic, isotropic, and incompressible solids, while blood was modeled as a single-phased, incompressible Newtonian fluid. Simulation results indicate that anterior, posterior, and anteroposterior compressions of the cervical spinal cord have significantly different ischemic potentials, with prediction that the posterior component of loading elevates patient risk due to the concomitant reduction of blood flow in the arterial branches. Conversely, anterior loading compromises flow through the anterior spinal artery but minimally impacts branch flow rates. The findings of this study provide novel insight into how sub-clinical spinal cord compression could give rise to certain disease states, and suggest a need to monitor spinal artery perfusion following even mild compressive loading.

Effect of spinal cord compression on local vascular blood flow and perfusion capacity.

Drug-eluting bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BVSs) have the potential to restore lumen patency, enable recovery of the native vascular environment, and circumvent late complications associated with permanent endovascular devices. To ensure therapeutic effects persist for sufficient times prior to scaffold resorption and resultant functional loss, many factors dictating BVS performance must be identified, characterized and optimized. While some factors relate to BVS design and manufacturing, others depend on device deployment and intrinsic vascular properties. Importantly, these factors interact and cannot be considered in isolation. The objective of this study is to quantify the extent to which degree of radial expansion modulates BVS performance, specifically in the context of modifying device erosion kinetics and evolution of structural mechanics and local drug elution. We systematically varied degree of radial expansion in model BVS constructs composed of poly dl-lactide-glycolide and generated in vitro metrics of device microstructure, degradation, erosion, mechanics and drug release. Experimental data permitted development of computational models that predicted transient concentrations of scaffold-derived soluble species and drug in the arterial wall, thus enabling speculation on the short- and long-term effects of differential expansion. We demonstrate that degree of expansion significantly affects scaffold properties critical to functionality, underscoring its relevance in BVS design and optimization.

Jahid Ferdous

Department of Mechanical Engineering

University of South Carolina

Using Digital Image Correlation to Characterize Local Strains on Vascular Tissue Specimens

Jahid Ferdous

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Department of Mechanical Engineering

University of South Carolina

Using Digital Image Correlation to Characterize Local Strains on Vascular Tissue Specimens

Department of Mechanical Engineering