Biaxial mechanics of excised canine pulmonary arteries.

A new method has been developed for measuring the stress-strain relationship in excised canine pulmonary arteries. Segments of dog main right pulmonary arteries were isolated by making two transverse cuts at each end of a segment near the bifurcations, yielding short cylinders, which were then cut radially, relieving the residual stress, causing the cylindrical shells to spring open to approximately flat rectangular slabs with dimensions approximately 1.0 x 3.0 x 0.1 cm. The specimens were then tested using a biaxial tensile testing machine. The resulting data show an approximately linear relationship between Kirchhoff stress and Lagrangian strain with very little hysteresis. The following pseudostrain energy function serves as a practical approximation for pulmonary arteries subjected to physiological levels of stress and strain: rho 0W(2) = 1/2(a1E2xx + a2E2yy + 2 a4ExxEyy), where rho 0 is the density of the wall (mass per unit volume), W is the energy per unit mass [superscript "(2)" indicates this is a 2-dimensional strain energy function], E is strain, a1, a2, and a4 are material constants with units of stress, and the subscripts x and y refer to the circumferential and axial axes, respectively, of the artery. To assess the physiological level of strain in the main right pulmonary artery, vessels were perfused in situ at physiological pressure (26 cmH2O) with silicone elastomer. The arteries were then excised and marked with small ink spots. Photographs of the spots on four tangent planes of the excised artery indicate a maximum circumferential strain of 21.5% and a maximum axial strain of 36.5% relative to the zero-stress state. These values are within the range of strain used in the biaxial tests. The relationship between Kirchhoff stress and Green's strain is approximately linear within the physiological range. The stress levels required to cause tissue failure are at least 10 times greater than the estimated normal physiological level.