Time-course of venous wall biomechanical adaptation in pressure and flow-overload: Assessment by a microstructure-based material model

Arteriovenous fistulae have been previously created by our group, through implantation of e-PTFE grafts between the carotid artery and jugular vein in healthy pigs, to gather comprehensive data on the time-course of the adapted geometry, composition, and biomechanical properties of the venous wall exposed to chronic increases in pressure and flow. The aim of this study was to mathematically assess the biomechanical adaptation of venous wall, by characterizing our previous in vitro inflation/extension testing data obtained 2, 4, and 12 weeks post-fistula, using a microstructure-based material model. Our choice for such a model considered a quadratic function for elastin with a four-fiber family term for collagen, and permitted realistic data characterization for both overloaded and control veins. As structural validation to the hemodynamically-driven differences in the material response, computerized histology was employed to quantitate the composition and orientation of collagen and elastin-fiber networks. The parameter values optimized showed marked differences among the overloaded and control veins, namely decrease in the quadratic function parameters and increase in the four-fiber family parameters. Differences among the two vein types were highlighted with respect to the underlying microstructure, namely the reduced elastin and increased collagen contents induced by pressure and flow-overload. Explicit correlations were found of the material parameters with the two basic scleroprotein contents, substantiating the material model used and the characterization findings presented. Our results are expected to improve the current understanding of the dynamics of venous adaptation under sustained pressure- and flow-overload conditions, for which data are largely unavailable and contradictory.