Image-Informed Inverse Finite Element Analysis Reveals Altered Constitutive Behavior Following Controlled Uterine Tissue Remodeling
Purpose: Fibrotic remodeling of the uterus, associated with aging, disease, and environmental exposures, alters collagen organization and tissue stiffness, yet how these changes influence organ-level mechanical behavior remains poorly understood. Glutaraldehyde (GA)-induced collagen crosslinking was used as a controlled surrogate for fibrotic remodeling to determine whether image-informed inverse…
Researchers investigated the impact of uterine tissue remodeling on mechanical behavior using image-informed inverse finite element analysis (iFEA). Glutaraldehyde (GA) was employed as a controlled method to induce collagen crosslinking, mimicking fibrotic remodeling seen in aging, disease, and environmental exposures. Six untreated and six GA-crosslinked murine uteri participated in the study, with volume-controlled balloon inflation and simultaneous microCT imaging to analyze deformation of the inner and outer wall boundaries.
Specimen-specific Gasser-Ogden-Holzapfel (GOH) finite element models were optimized to match the experimentally measured wall contours during inflation. The model performance was assessed using contour root mean square error (RMSE), while parameter identifiability was evaluated through sensitivity analyses. The findings revealed that GA treatment significantly elevated inflation work, linear stiffness, and the maximum inflation resistance (p value not provided).
Written by urgent.news from bioRxiv's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
