title: Heat-induced changes in the mechanics of a collagenous tissue: isothermal free shrinkage.
abstract: We present data from isothermal free-shrinkage tests (i.e., performed in the absence of mechanical loads) wherein bovine chordae tendineae were subjected to temperatures from 65 to 85 degrees C for 120 to 1200 s. These data reveal four new insights into heat-induced denaturation of a collagenous tissue. First, a characteristic time for the free shrinkage appears to exhibit an Arrhenius-type relationship with temperature. Second, scaling the actual heating time via the characteristic time results in a single correlation between free shrinkage and the duration of heating; this correlation suggests a time-temperature equivalence. Third, it is the cumulative, not current, heating time that governs the free shrinkage. And fourth, heat-induced free shrinkage is partially recovered when the tissue is returned to 37 degrees C, this recovery also being time-dependent. Although these findings will help guide future experimentation and constitutive modeling, as well as the design of new heat-based clinical therapies, there is a pressing need to collect additional isothermal data, particularly in the presence of well-defined mechanical loads.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore 21250, USA.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: N T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Humphrey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002815:Chordae Tendineae / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006361:Heating; D006358:Hot Temperature; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D011489:Protein Denaturation; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen