Department of Science and Mathematics, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78224.
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Education City, P.O. Box 24866, Doha, Qatar.
J Biomech Eng. 2020 Aug 1;142(8). doi: 10.1115/1.4045810.
During pregnancy, the cervix experiences significant mechanical property change due to tissue swelling, and to ongoing changes in the collagen content. In this paper, we model how these two effects contribute to cervical deformation as the pressure load on top of the cervix increases. The cervix and its surrounding supporting ligaments are taken into consideration in the resulting mechanical analysis. The cervix itself is treated as a multilayered tube-like structure, with layer-specific collagen orientation. The cervical tissue in each layer is treated in terms of a collagen constituent that remodels with time within a ground substance matrix that experiences swelling. The load and swelling are taken to change sufficiently slowly so that the collagen properties at any instant can be regarded as being in a state of homeostasis. Among other things, the simulations show how the luminal cross-sectional area varies along its length as a function of pressure and swelling. In general, an increase in pressure causes an overall shortening of the lumen while an increase in swelling has the opposite effect.
在怀孕期间，由于组织肿胀和胶原蛋白含量的持续变化，子宫颈经历了显著的力学性能变化。在本文中，我们模拟了这两种效应如何随着子宫颈顶部压力负荷的增加而导致子宫颈变形。在得出的力学分析中考虑了子宫颈及其周围的支撑韧带。子宫颈本身被视为具有特定层间胶原取向的多层管状结构。根据基质中胶原蛋白的重塑和肿胀，每层的宫颈组织都被视为胶原蛋白成分。假定负荷和肿胀变化足够缓慢，以至于可以认为任何时刻的胶原蛋白特性都处于平衡状态。除其他外，模拟结果显示了随着压力和肿胀的变化，管腔的横截面积如何沿其长度变化。一般来说，压力的增加会导致管腔的整体缩短，而肿胀的增加则会产生相反的效果。
