Issue 13, 2016

Strong correlation between early stage atherosclerosis and electromechanical coupling of aorta

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is the underlying cause of cardiovascular diseases that are responsible for many deaths in the world, and the early diagnosis of atherosclerosis is highly desirable. The existing imaging methods, however, are not capable of detecting the early stage of atherosclerosis development due to their limited spatial resolution. Using piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), we show that the piezoelectric response of an aortic wall increases as atherosclerosis advances, while the stiffness of the aorta shows a less evident correlation with atherosclerosis. Furthermore, we show that there is strong correlation between the coercive electric field necessary to switch the polarity of the artery and the development of atherosclerosis. Thus by measuring the electromechanical coupling of the aortic wall, it is possible to probe atherosclerosis at the early stage of its development, not only improving the spatial resolution by orders of magnitude, but also providing comprehensive quantitative information on the biomechanical properties of the artery.

Graphical abstract: Strong correlation between early stage atherosclerosis and electromechanical coupling of aorta

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
23 Oct 2015
Accepted
01 Mar 2016
First published
01 Mar 2016

Nanoscale, 2016,8, 6975-6980

Author version available

Strong correlation between early stage atherosclerosis and electromechanical coupling of aorta

X. Y. Liu, F. Yan, L. L. Niu, Q. N. Chen, H. R. Zheng and J. Y. Li, Nanoscale, 2016, 8, 6975 DOI: 10.1039/C5NR07398G

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