ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

Sec. Biomechanics

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1620594

This article is part of the Research TopicEmerging Tools, Concepts, and Applications in Multi-Scale MechanobiologyView all 7 articles

Deteriorated Biomechanical Properties of Human Hypertrophied Septum in Response to Cardiomyocyte Enlargement, Overexpressed Collagen, and Disarrayed Microstructures

Provisionally accepted
Katherine M. M CopelandKatherine M. M Copeland1Houjia ChenHoujia Chen1Uday ChintapulaUday Chintapula1Milad AlmasianMilad Almasian2Duc Khang ChungDuc Khang Chung1Alan M TaylorAlan M Taylor1Yichen DingYichen Ding2Gaurav Sharma, PhD, MBAGaurav Sharma, PhD, MBA3Michael JessenMichael Jessen3Yi HongYi Hong1Kytai Truong NguyenKytai Truong Nguyen1Matthias PeltzMatthias Peltz3Pietro BajonaPietro Bajona3Jun LiaoJun Liao1*
  • 1University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, United States
  • 2The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas, United States
  • 3University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States

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Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is often caused by genetic mutations, resulting in abnormal thickening of ventricular muscle, particularly the septum, and causing left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction and inferior cardiac performance. The cell and microstructural abnormalities are believed to be the cause of the altered tissue mechanical properties and inferior performance.However, there is a lack of detailed biomechanical assessments of human hypertrophied septum and a lack of understanding of the structural-mechanical relationship between altered biomechanical properties and cellular hypertrophy, fibrotic overexpression, and microstructural disruptions. In this study, we performed thorough biomechanical and microstructural characterizations on the human hypertrophied septum and compared this with healthy septum. We found that the hypertrophied human septum was stiffer at the initial phase of tissue loading, but less nonlinear, less stiff in the linear region, and much weaker in mechanical strength when compared to the healthy human septum. The fibrosis-collagen microstructural disruptions provide mechanistic explanations for the deteriorated biomechanical properties. Our viscoelastic mechanical data and microstructural characterizations build a strong foundation to understand the altered tissue behavior of the hypertrophied septum, the degree of deviation from the normal septum, and the underlying structural mechanisms.

Keywords: Emerging tools, concepts, and Applications in Multi-Scale Mechanobiology Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, Human Hypertrophied Septum, Biomechanical deterioration, microstructural abnormalities, Collagen Overexpression

Received: 29 Apr 2025; Accepted: 20 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Copeland, Chen, Chintapula, Almasian, Chung, Taylor, Ding, Sharma, PhD, MBA, Jessen, Hong, Nguyen, Peltz, Bajona and Liao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Jun Liao, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, United States

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