Affiliations: UMR 7563-CNRS-UHP-INPL-Laboratoire de mécanique et d'ingénierie cellulaire et tissulaire, Laboratoire LEMTA et IFR 111 Bioingénierie, Faculté de médecine, 54505 Vandoeuvre lès Nancy, France | UMR 7039-CNRS-UHP-INPL-CRAN (Centre de Recherche en Automatique de Nancy), Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine, 54511 Vandoeuvre, France
Note: [] Corresponding author: Christophe Choserot, Mécanique et Ingénierie Cellulaire et Tissulaire – UMR7563, Faculté de médecine, Bat. E, 9 avenue de la forêt de Haye, 54500 Vandoeuvre lès Nancy, France. Tel.: +33 3 83 68 36 88; Fax: +33 3 83 68 36 89; E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: The study of mechanical properties of the arterial wall is an important step in the comprehension of the vascular physiopathological functioning. However, cryopreserving biological tissues using very low temperatures can induce biological and structural modifications which may involve complications (dilatation, bursting, stenosis) after reimplantation. Many procedures of mechanical tests (traction, dilatation) developped in research allow us to comprehend and analyse rheological behaviour of the arterial wall. The study presented in this article offers a new perspective to detect changes of mechanical properties of cryopreserved arterial samples. In fact, the original idea is to couple a mechanical test bed (uniaxial traction of arterial rings) with spectroscopic measurements (autofluorescence) for the purpose of correlating mechanical modifications and spectral variations. Ultimately, this new approach could lead to develop a device allowing atraumatic and contactless optical examinations of arterial graft to determine its mechanical state before reimplantation.
