Journal of

Biomechanical
Engineering i

Zero-Stress States of Arteries

S. Q. Liu1 and Y. C. Fung1

The no-load configuration of a living organ is, in general, not
the zero-stress state. The difference can be revealed by cutting
up an unloaded organ to such an extent that the stress becomes
zero in the tissue everywhere. For the aorta, it is shown that
the configuration of the zero-stress state differs considerably
from being a cylindrical tube. It is, in fact, an open sector with
opening angles varying along the arterial tree. This article
presents data on the zero-stress state in the arteries of the rat in
normal condition. Fig. 1 Left: Nomenclature for sites: "anterior," "posterior," "inside,"
and "outside." Right: Definition of the opening section angle 0 and the
Every book on the theory of elasticity begins with the state- sum of the angles between the tangents to the vessel section at the site
ment that an elastic body has a unique state of zero stress. of the cut and the x-axis, a.
Deformation or strain is measured from the zero-stress state
(i.e., strains = 0 at zero-stress state). The zero-stress state is
uniquely defined in lifeless objects. In living organisms, cells I O J O
are continuously born, grow, and die; connective tissues are
continuously synthesized or reabsorbed. It can be expected
that in a living organ the zero-stress state is variable. It is dif-
ferent in health and disease.
When an organ is not subjected to any external load, it does
not mean that it is stress-free. The stress that remains in the
organ when it is free of external loading is called residual
stress. Residual stresses in heart and blood vessels can be
revealed by cutting open the unloaded organs and observing
the resulting deformation. Sufficient number of cuts must be
made until the tissue is stress-free. For a short segment of IQO^ OCOO
aorta it may be sufficient to make one longitudinal cut. When
I O A P O A P
this is done, the vessel will open up into a sector. If the angle
of the sector is defined as shown in Fig. 1, then 6 is 0 when the
residual strain vanishes. It is interesting to know that for the oc&o OCOO
normal rat aorta, 8 is not a constant, but varies along the tree
as shown in Fig. 2. Thus the cross-sectional shape of the aorta I O A P I O A P
in the zero-stress state is variable. The residual strain of a nor-
mal rat aorta is very large in the ascending aorta, as it is re-
vealed by the large angle 8 of about 160 deg when it is cut
9-QCv/ :>c^v
open. The sector angle 8 gradually decreases to 60 deg in the
carotid artery, continues toward zero about mid thoracic aorta Fig. 2 Photographs of the zero-stress configurations of short
segments of aorta along the aortic tree. The symbols A, P, I. 0 stand for
anterior, posterior, inside, and outside, respectively; see Fig. 1.

region, becomes somewhat negative in a region including the

'Department of Ames-Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, Calif. 92093.
Contributed by the Bioengineering Division of THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF
MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. Manuscript received by the Bioengineering Division,
September 28, 1987; revised manuscript received October 20, 1987.
diaphragm, then increases again to over 60 deg in the ilio lum-
bar region. Thus it is spatially variable.
Sprague Dawley rat was anesthetized with pentobarbitol (50
mg/kg) and the thorax was opened with a mediastinal inci-
sion. The heart and the great vessels were exposed. Segments
of the aorta were marked with three kinds of differently col-

82/Vol. 110, FEBRUARY 1988 Transactions of the ASME

Copyright © 1988 by ASME

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 20 40 60 80 100
PERCENTAGE OF AORTIC LENGTH

40 60 80 Fig. 5 Data on a plotted in a way similar to Fig. 4

PERCENTAGE OF AORTIC LENGTH

Fig. 3 Plot of raw data on 0 from six rats, illustrating the fourth order
polynomial interpolation curve ("inside" cut)
(R,*RJ/2H

CUT INSIDE
.lTTTrrTT"rV •4
CUT OUTSIDE 1 r
CUT ANTERIORLY >h X
CUT POSTERIORLY
1
r-
- H - H - -f—J—1 j_, H

40 60 80

PERCENTAGE OF AORTIC LENGTH

Fig. 6 Variation of the major and minor axes (R-), /?2 respectively) and
the wall of the vessel cross section at the no-load condition, and the
ratio (R1 + fl2)/2H along the arterial tree

the tangents at the two sides, a, both illustrated in Fig. 1. Note

that cutting the rings at four different locations - named
0 20 40 60 80 100 "front" (anterior), "rear" (posterior), "inside" (caudal) and
"outside" (coronal) in Fig. 1, resulted in different shapes of
PERCENTAGE OF AORTIC LENGTH
the cut specimen. This is an indication of a nonuniform
Fig. 4 Interpolation curves of the opening angle 0 from the pooled distribution of residual strains around the circumference of
data of six rats. The distance from the symbols to the interpolation the vessel.
curves (not from the mean) represent the standard deviation of G. the Raw data on the opening angles of six rats were plotted
standard deviations are plotted locations where the vessel segments
were taken. against the location of the section along the arterial tree in Fig.
3. A fourth order polynomial was used to fit the data. It is
seen that the fitting is quite good. For a general survey we
therefore pooled the data from six rats, fitted with a fourth
ored water resistant ink. With the location of the marks and order polynomial for each of the cutting position, and
the diameters measured, the specimens were excised and displayed the results in Figs. 4 and 5. The remarkable varia-
dropped immediately into a cold saline bath at 5°C. When a tion of the opening angle (residual strain) along the arterial
segment is ready to be used, it was transferred to a saline bath tree is then very clear. The standard deviations of the data
at room temperature. Thin segments with cross sections from the six rats at the cut sections are indicated by the
perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the blood vessel and distances of the marked symbols from the interpolation curve,
approximately 1 mm in length (thickness) were cut with (not from the mean).
scissors while the vessel was in saline. The thin ring was then The shape of the arterial cross sections in the no-load condi-
cut again, resulting in the opening of the section as shown in tion is usually oval. The major and minor axes were measured
Figs. 1 and 2. Photographs of some typical cut specimens are and designated by Ru R2. The wall thickness at the no-load
shown in Fig. 2. The opening angles were measured in two condition was also measured and is designated by H. R{, R2,
ways: the sector angle 6, and the sum of the angle changes of H, and the ratio (R{ + R2)/(2H) are plotted in Fig. 6. It is

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 180
CUT INSIDE
160
• NO PAPAVERINE (6 RATS)
140 - No.7, WITH PAPAVERINE
No.8, WITH PAPAVERINE

40 60 80 100

PERCENTAGE OF AORTIC LENGTH PERCENTAGE OF AORTIC LENGTH

Fig. 7 The radius of curvature of the centerline of the aorta. See text Fig. 8 The effect of papaverine on the opening angle 0 at zero-stress
for definition of centerline condition when the vessel was cut "inside"

seen that these vessels are remarkably thick-walled at the no-

load condition. The radius of curvature of the centerline of the 160
CUT OUTSIDE
artery is an important parameter in the analysis of the stress Ul
UJ
distribution in a curved tube. The larger the curvature, the ft
UJ
140

more nonuniform is the circumferential stress around the tube NO PAPAVERINE (6 RATS)
o
No.7,WITH PAPAVERINE
when the tube is subjected to internal pressure or bending. We s
J
120
N0.8.WITH PAPAVERINE
defined the centerline as the locus of the centers of the largest (!)
T
of the circles which are inscribed inside and tangent to the a<
100

walls of the vessel in its coronal plane. The radius of curvature z

of the centerline was measured and presented in Fig. 7. ,7. 80

Finally, as in an earlier investigation (Fung, 1984), we added 6,6

2 mg papaverine/ml to the perfusing fluid and the saline bath /
in several experiments to inactivate the muscles before cutting 40
the vessel. The results are presented Figs. 8 and 9 in which the
normal case without papaverine is also included for com-
parison. It is seen that the sector opening angle is not cor-
related with the contraction of the smooth muscle in the blood
0 20 40 60 80 100
vessel. Hence it must come from the residual stress in the con-
nective tissues. PERCENTAGE OF AORTIC LENGTH

From the difference of the vessel geometry at the stress-free
state and that at the unloaded state, we can compute the
residual strains, (the simplest cases being illustrated in Fung,
(1984)). Then the stresses at normal physiological conditions
can be computed from the stress-strain relationship (e.g.,
Chuong and Fung, 1985, 1986). When the physiological set
point changes, the residual stresses will change. Information
on these changes will be helpful in evaluating the relationship
between stress and growth in living organs.
The research is supported by NSF through Grant No. EET
85-18559.
References
Chuong, C. J. and Fung, Y. C , 1986, "Residual Stress in Arteries," Fron-
tiers in Biomechanics, ed. G. W. Schmid-Schonbein, S. L.-Y. Woo, B. W.
Zweifach, Springer Verlag, New York, 1986, pp. 117-129. Also, ASME JOUR-
NAL or BIOMECHANICAL ENGINEERING, Vol. 108, 1986, pp. 189-192.
Fig. 9 Data similar to Fig. 8 for "outside" cut
Fung, Y. C , 1984, Biodynamics: Circulation, Springer-Verlag, New York,
1984.
Fung, Y. C , 1987a, "A Model of the Lung Structure and Its Validation," J.
Applied Physiology, (Submitted).
Fung, Y. C , 1987b, "Incremental Bulk Moduli of Lung Based on Order-2
Polyhedral Model of the Alveoli and Ducts," ASME JOURNAL OF
BIOMECHANICAL ENGINEERING (Submitted).
Fung, Y. C , 1987c, "Application of Morphometric Data of Fibroproteins in
Alveolar Walls and Ducts to Calculate Lung Bulk Modulus," ASME JOURNAL
OF BIOMECHANICAL ENGINEERING (Submitted).
Matsuda, M., Fung, Y. C , and Sobin, S. S., 1987, "Collagen and Elastin
Fibers in Human Pulmonary Alveolar Mouths and Ducts," J. Appl.
Physiology, In press.
Sobin, S. S., Fung, Y. C , and Tremer, H. M., 1987, "Collagen and Elastin
Fibers in Human Pulmonary Alveolar Walls," J. Applied Physiology
(Submitted).

84/ Vol. 110, FEBRUARY 1988 Transactions of the ASME

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