TY - JOUR
T1 - A two-scale numerical study on the mechanobiology of abdominal aortic aneurysms
AU - Dalbosco, Misael
AU - Terzano, Michele
AU - Carniel, Thiago A.
AU - Fancello, Eduardo A.
AU - Holzapfel, Gerhard A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.
PY - 2023/11/1
Y1 - 2023/11/1
N2 - Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) are a serious condition whose pathophysiology is related to phenomena occurring at different length scales. To gain a better understanding of the disease, this work presents a multi-scale computational study that correlates AAA progression with microstructural and mechanical alterations in the tissue. Macro-scale geometries of a healthy aorta and idealized aneurysms with increasing diameter are developed on the basis of existing experimental data and subjected to physiological boundary conditions. Subsequently, microscopic representative volume elements of the abluminal side of each macro-model are employed to analyse the local kinematics at the cellular scale. The results suggest that the formation of the aneurysm disrupts the micromechanics of healthy tissue, which could trigger collagen growth and remodelling by mechanosensing cells. The resulting changes to the macro-mechanics and microstructure of the tissue seem to establish a new homeostatic state at the cellular scale, at least for the diameter range investigated.
AB - Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) are a serious condition whose pathophysiology is related to phenomena occurring at different length scales. To gain a better understanding of the disease, this work presents a multi-scale computational study that correlates AAA progression with microstructural and mechanical alterations in the tissue. Macro-scale geometries of a healthy aorta and idealized aneurysms with increasing diameter are developed on the basis of existing experimental data and subjected to physiological boundary conditions. Subsequently, microscopic representative volume elements of the abluminal side of each macro-model are employed to analyse the local kinematics at the cellular scale. The results suggest that the formation of the aneurysm disrupts the micromechanics of healthy tissue, which could trigger collagen growth and remodelling by mechanosensing cells. The resulting changes to the macro-mechanics and microstructure of the tissue seem to establish a new homeostatic state at the cellular scale, at least for the diameter range investigated.
KW - aneurysm
KW - finite-element method
KW - micro-scale model
KW - numerical homogenization
KW - representative volume element
KW - two-scale model
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85175679582&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1098/rsif.2023.0472
DO - 10.1098/rsif.2023.0472
M3 - Article
C2 - 37907092
AN - SCOPUS:85175679582
SN - 1742-5689
VL - 20
JO - Journal of the Royal Society Interface
JF - Journal of the Royal Society Interface
IS - 208
M1 - 20230472
ER -