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Pejcic et al. Vessel Plus 2019;3:32 I http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2574-1209.2019.18 Page 9 of 12

elastic modulus until specimen failure, thus providing rudimentary data about rupture conditions. Bulge
inflation tests further provide information on biaxial behaviour [5,22-24] ; however, inflation-extensions tests
replicate in vivo loading scenarios and are more suited to explore the in-depth loading mechanisms under
which healthy tissue may become diseased [26-29] . The opening angle test illustrates the residual stresses
that are present in the circumferential direction in arterial walls [25,26,29,37,39] . Lastly, the nanoindentation test
may be used to characterize local deformation and inter-layer properties of arteries [10,41] . There has been
great effort put into quantification of the mechanical properties of the aorta; however, acquiring whole
tissue is difficult and the importance of standard testing cannot be overlooked. The development of more
robust in vitro test methods and further research with respect to spatial and temporal variations in aortic
composition will lead to a clearer understanding of the biomechanical contributions to vascular pathologies
such as aneurysms. This will potentially lead to a more comprehensive stratification of aneurysm rupture
risk and will hopefully lead to more targeted treatment strategies.

DECLARATIONS
Authors’ contributions
Performed literature review and composed manuscript: Pejcic S, Hassan SMA
Edited Manuscript: Rival DE, Bisleri G

Availability of data and materials
The data was sourced via Queen’s Summon Search and PubMed.

Financial support and sponsorship
SP acknowledges support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Canadian
Graduate Scholarship - Master’s Program.

Conflicts of interest
All authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.

Consent for publication
Not applicable.

Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019.

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