Purslow P P
J Biomech. 1983;16(11):947-53. doi: 10.1016/0021-9290(83)90058-1.
The tunica media and intima of descending thoracic aortas from commercially killed pigs showed variations in mechanical properties along their length in a region extending from just in front of the first intercostal artery to the sixth intercostal artery. Along this region circumferential toughness, measured as work of fracture from a tear test, increased, longitudinal and circumferential ultimate tensile strength increased and longitudinal and circumferential stress-strain gradients of excised strips increased further away from the heart. These increasing mechanical properties are positively correlated with an increase in collagen mass fraction and an increase of radius/thickness ratio away from the heart over this region.
