Stress-Strain Characteristics and Histological Studies of Canine Connective Tissues

Abstract

<p>This project is Part I of a study aimed at determining the stress-strain characteristics of various collagenous canine tissues, and relating them to their structure (histology). In addition Part II involves the isolation of the collagenous structures by enzymolysis of mucopolysaccharides and elastin, which results in the phenomenological elastic moduli of collagen in the various tissues. The present study provides this through in vitro tensile experiments on various tissues from the dog in the native state, after elastin removal by enzymolysis, or after removal of collagen by autoclaving. The elastin component, which exhibits a linear stress-strain curve, determines the tensile modulus of the native tissue at low strain, while collagen determines the modulus at high strain. The removal of elastin significantly alters the moduli at low strain for most of the tissues, although the high-strain moduli remain essentially unchanged.</p>