Time-course of the human thoracic aorta ageing process assessed using uniaxial mechanical testing and constitutive modelling

Age-related remodelling of the arterial wall shifts the load bearing from the compliant elastin network to the stiffer collagen fibres. While this phenomenon has been widely investigated in animal models, human studies are lacking due to shortage of donors’ arteries. This work aimed to characterise the effect of ageing on the mechanical properties of the human aortic wall in the circumferential direction.