An integrated ultrasound and mechanical testing system for mapping 3D tissue mechanics and fiber architecture.
Current approaches for characterizing soft tissue properties face significant limitations. Techniques like diffusion tensor MRI, two-photon microscopy, and small-angle light scattering can provide insights into fiber orientation, but they generally cannot simultaneously measure the tissue's mechanical properties. Many of these methods also require samples to be thin or optically transparent, or necessitate extensive preparation like decellularization, which can alter native tissue characteristics. Furthermore, the equipment involved is often expensive and bulky, hindering widespread application and preventing comprehensive, simultaneous 3D mapping of both mechanical behavior and fiber architecture in opaque, thick biological samples
Description
This technology integrates a biaxial mechanical tester with a high-frequency 3D ultrasound device and a computing system to characterize soft biological tissues. The biaxial tester applies controlled cyclic loads along multiple axes to a tissue sample, while the ultrasound device acquires volumetric speckle images. A computing system performs 3D speckle tracking to derive spatially varying strain tensors and combines this with stress data from the tester. An inverse reconstruction algorithm then fits a constitutive material model, specifically a strain energy function, to the measured stress-strain data. This iterative process optimizes material parameters and the spatially varying fiber orientation distribution, providing detailed 3D maps of the tissue's mechanical properties and fiber architecture. This technology overcomes significant limitations of existing methods for tissue characterization. Unlike techniques such as diffusion tensor MRI or two-photon microscopy, it simultaneously measures both mechanical properties and spatially varying fiber orientation. Crucially, it can analyze optically opaque and thick biological tissues without requiring decellularization or other extensive sample preparations. This provides a compact, relatively inexpensive, and comprehensive alternative for biomechanical research, enabling detailed 3D mapping of fiber architecture and mechanical behavior in a way previously challenging or impossible.Applications
- Tissue biomechanics research- Biomaterial implant testing
- Disease progression monitoring
- Engineered tissue quality control
- Drug cardiotoxicity screening
Advantages
- Simultaneously determines 3D mechanical properties and spatially varying fiber orientation in soft biological tissues.- Enables characterization of thick, optically opaque tissues without special preparation, overcoming limitations of existing methods.
- Provides detailed 3D maps of tissue mechanical properties and fiber architecture with high accuracy.
- Offers a more compact and relatively inexpensive alternative to traditional fiber orientation imaging methods.
- Applicable in biomechanical research, biomaterial evaluation, and potential in vivo tissue characterization.