Purpose: We established a reliable experimental protocol to characterize the biomechanical properties of vaginal tissue and guarantee good test repeatability.
Materials and methods: Because of the large quantities of tissue required to establish the protocol, we worked on ewes according to animal ethics laws. To study the mechanical properties of ewe vaginal tissue we used unidirectional tension tests at a constant deformation rate. Rupture tests were performed under different experimental conditions to analyze the influence of each condition.
Results: Tissue underwent exhaustive tests. The parameters studied were sampling, freezing, preservation conditions, hygrometry and temperature during vaginal tissue tests, and the rate of deformation during tests. As previously noted, vaginal tissue is anisotropic and the collection has been tested previously. We noted that freezing tissue had no consequences on the mechanical response of tissue during unidirectional tension testing. The experimental conditions that we defined (temperature, hygrometry and rate of deformation) allowed us to have reproducible tests.
Conclusions: Results and analyses allowed us to determine the best reference protocol.