Mechanics of aortic valve leaflet mesostructures

Current bioprosthetic and mechanical designs or heart valve replacements do not fully consider the underlying native fibre structure of the valve, nor their fibre-scale properties. The overall goal of this work is to perform experimental and analytical analyses of the individual fiber and membrane “Mesostructures” of the aortic heart valve. We have developed a novel experimental/analytical system to investigate the properties of these structures in detail. More successful treatments of damaged or diseased valves require new experiments and mathematical models at the tissue level by which to evaluate and improve valve repair/replacement designs.