CAREER: Determining the Dynamic Role of Elastic Fibers in Cervovaginal Adaptations

Tulane University, New Orleans LA

Investigators

Abstract

This Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) project will support an integrated research and education program to determine the role of elastic fibers in the soft tissues of the female reproductive system. Elastic fibers are present in most soft biological tissues and are critical to tissue function. Loss of elastic fibers may contribute to significant health problems of the female pelvic floor and lead to preterm birth and pelvic organ prolapse. This project will develop a computer model that can predict how elastic fibers in the soft tissues of the female reproductive system change in response to mechanical pressure. This will help to advance health by determining causes for changes in the tissue properties during pregnancy and during other normal events that change tissue mechanical pressure. The knowledge and new computer modeling tools could also be used to understand how other soft tissues containing elastic fibers such as the lungs, blood vessels, skin, and the digestive system change as the result of applied mechanical pressure. Research findings from this project will be incorporated into a mobile telephone game, teaching modules for K-12 education and into undergraduate and graduate biomedical engineering courses. An experimentally-validated computational model will be used to determine why and how elastic fibers influence mechanobiological adaptations in biological tissues. This will be accomplished by: 1) Determining the role of elastic fibers in evolving biaxial mechanical properties and contractility in cervovaginal tissue in response to altered loads in situ using a mechanical loading tissue culture system; 2) Formulating a biomechanical growth and remodeling model that describes cervovaginal mechanical properties, contractility, and extracellular matrix composition with and without compromised elastic fibers; and 3) Validating the model by predicting the key features of cervovaginal adaptations in response to altered mechanical loading. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.