The mechanical response of glutaraldehyde-fixed bovine pericardium to uniaxial load

Bovine pericardium, treated with glutaraldehyde, is used in the construction of heart valve substitutes. This study examines the mechanical properties of this tissue by using a continuum physics approximation of the material. A consideration of the relative magnitudes of the characteristic deformation time of a heart valve leaflet and the measured relaxation time of the tissue suggests that it can be effectively represented by a non-linear elastic solid. A compressible isotropic strain energy function is used to characterize the homogeneous deformation of the tissue when it is subjected to uniaxial load. This model is used to investigate the pericardial sac-to-sac and within-sac directional variation of the response to load in the unstrained state.