This study presents a method to quantify micro-stiffness variations in experimental arteriovenous fistulae (AVF).
AVF created by anastomosing the superficial epigastric vein to the femoral artery in Sprague-Dawley rats were allowed to remodel for 21 days before being harvested and preserved in culture medium. A custom atomic force microscope was used to measure microvascular stiffness (Young's modulus) in three areas of the AVF: the inflow artery, the juxta-anastomotic area, and the outflow vein. Morphometric measurements and collagen and elastin contents were also determined.
Atomic force microscopy indentation revealed an increased stiffness in the juxta-anastomotic area of the AVF compared to the outflow vein and inflow artery. The juxta-anastomotic area was also significantly stiffer than the contralateral vein. The lack of elasticity (higher Young's modulus) of the juxta-anastomotic region was associated with a thicker vascular wall that was rich in collagen but poor in elastin.
This study demonstrates for the first time the feasibility of using atomic force microscopy to measure local stiffness variations in experimental AVF. This technique could be instrumental in advancing our understanding of how micro-spatial organization of the AVF wall determines the overall biomechanical performance of this type of vascular access.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 02 April 2016.
All research outputs
#20,317,110
of 22,858,915 outputs
Outputs from The Journal of Vascular Access
#582
of 659 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#254,840
of 300,769 outputs
Outputs of similar age from The Journal of Vascular Access
#5
of 8 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,858,915 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 659 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.8. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 300,769 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 8 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than 3 of them.
