Measurement of the uniaxial mechanical properties of healthy and atherosclerotic human coronary arteries

► The mechanical properties of human coronary arteries are measured using uniaxial tensile test. ► The atherosclerotic human coronary arteries bear 44% more stress and 34% less strain. ► Healthy arteries have physiological and maximum elastic modulus of 1.48 and 1.55 MPa. ► Atherosclerotic arteries have physiological and maximum elastic modulus of 3.77 and 4.53 MPa. ► The age of the specimen play independent role on the human arterial wall stiffness.