Uniaxial mechanical behavior of the human female bladder

Abstract

Introduction and hypothesis: The objective of the present study was to investigate the tensile biomechanical properties of the human female bladder.

Methods: Tissue samples were obtained from 13 cadavers without pelvic floor dysfunctions. We performed uniaxial tensile tests to measure the stiffness and maximum stress of the bladder tissue. Correlations were calculated using the Pearson correlation coefficient.

Results: The bladder tissue stiffness ranged from 1 to 4.1 MPa (mean stiffness, 1.9 ± 0.2 MPa) and the maximum stress ranged from 0.5 to 2.6 MPa (mean maximum stress, 0.9 ± 0.1 MPa). There was a strong positive correlation between stiffness and maximum stress in the bladder tissue (ρ = 0.829, p < 0.001). Tissue from women younger than 50 years presented higher bladder stiffness than did tissue from older subjects (2.1 ± 0.2 versus 1.3 ± 0.1 MPa, p = 0.02). Maximum bladder stress, however, was not associated with age (1.0 ± 0.2 versus 0.7 ± 0.1 MPa, p = 0.349). In addition, body mass index and menopausal status were not associated with these biomechanical properties.

Conclusions: Age may influence the uniaxial mechanical behavior of the human female bladder.