©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Bicuspid aortic valve hemodynamics does not promote remodeling in porcine aortic wall concavity
Samantha K Atkins, Alison N Moore, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States
Philippe Sucosky, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435, United States
Author contributions: Atkins SK performed the experiments and biological assays, and conducted the analysis; Moore AN performed the biological assays; Atkins SK and Sucosky P wrote the paper.
Supported by National Science Foundation, Nos. CMMI-1148558 and CMMI-1550144.
Institutional review board statement: Not applicable (no human/animal subjects).
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: Not applicable (no human/animal subjects).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: Complete dataset and statistical analyses available from the corresponding author at philippe.sucosky@wright.edu.
Correspondence to: Philippe Sucosky, PhD, FAHA, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Wright State University, 257 Russ Engineering Center, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway, Dayton, OH 45435, United States. philippe.sucosky@wright.edu
Telephone: +1-937-7754650 Fax: +1-937-7755082
Received: September 27, 2015
Peer-review started: October 3, 2015
First decision: October 27, 2015
Revised: October 30, 2015
Accepted: December 3, 2015
Article in press: December 4, 2015
Published online: January 26, 2016
Processing time: 121 Days and 15.8 Hours
Peer-review started: October 3, 2015
First decision: October 27, 2015
Revised: October 30, 2015
Accepted: December 3, 2015
Article in press: December 4, 2015
Published online: January 26, 2016
Processing time: 121 Days and 15.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: The bicuspid aortic valve with left-right cusp fusion (LR-BAV) generates a stress overload on the ascending aorta (AA) convexity, which promotes aortic medial degeneration and aortic dilation. While the wall concavity is generally spared from the disease, the protective role of the local hemodynamics has not been demonstrated. This study aimed at comparing matrix metalloproteinase biology in AA concavity tissue subjected to the local hemodynamic stresses generated by a tricuspid aortic valve (TAV) and a LR-BAV. The results suggest that the fluid stresses in the TAV AA and LR-BAV AA concavity result in similar MMP expressions and activities.