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Biomechanical Characterization of Tissues in Dupuytren’s DiseaseFrom the Department of Technology and Design, University of Westminster and the Department of Plastic Surgery, University College, London, and the Collagen Research Group, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK Correspondence: Dr A. Afoke, Department of Technology and Design, University of Westminster, 115 New Cavendish Street, London WIM 8JS, UK. The aim of this study was to characterize mechanical properties of tissues of Dupuytren’s disease and to attempt to identify changes due to cellular activity. Tensile tests confirmed the heterogeneity of Dupuytren’s disease tissue with distinct stress-strain curves for the three tissue types normally present, namely, cord, transition zone and nodule. The tensile strength for cord tissue was nearly twice that of nodule tissue, but the latter was nearly twice as stretchable as cord. In contrast, the transition tissue had the tensile strength of cord with the stretchability of nodule. It was found that tensile loading stimulated a cellular response as demonstrated by an increase in the creep strain rate of the tissue at 37°C compared with that at 4°C using Dupuytren’s tissue in an in vitro culture test. The creep strain rate for nodule at 37°C was more than seven times that for cord at a nominal creep stress of 0.75 MPa.
Journal of Hand Surgery (British and European Volume), Vol. 23, No. 3,
291-296 (1998) |
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