Microstructural consequences of blast lung injury characterised with digital volume correlation
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This study focuses on microstructural changes that occur within the mammalian lung when subject to blast and how these changes influence strain distributions within the tissue. Shock tube experiments were performed to generate the blast injured specimens (cadaveric Sprague-Dawley rats). Blast overpressures of 100 and 180 kPa were studied. Synchrotron tomography imaging was used to capture volumetric image data of lungs. Specimens were ventilated using a custom-built system to study multiple inflation pressures during each tomography scan. These data enabled the first digital volume correlation (DVC) measurements in lung tissue to be performed. Quantitative analysis was performed to describe the damaged architecture of the lung. No clear changes in the microstructure of the tissue morphology were observed due to controlled low- to moderate-level blast exposure. However, significant focal sites of injury were observed using DVC, which allowed the detection of bias and concentration in the patterns of strain level. Morphological analysis corroborated the findings, illustrating that the focal damage caused by a blast can give rise to diffuse influence across the tissue. It is important to characterize the non-instantly fatal doses of blast, given the transient nature of blast lung in the clinical setting. This research has highlighted the need for better understanding of focal injury and its zone of influence (alveolar interdependency and neighboring tissue burden as a result of focal injury). DVC techniques show great promise as a tool to advance this endeavor, providing a new perspective on lung mechanics after blast.
Date Issued
2017-12-13
Date Acceptance
2017-11-20
Citation
Frontiers in Materials, 2017, 4
ISSN
2296-8016
Publisher
Frontiers Media
Journal / Book Title
Frontiers in Materials
Volume
4
Copyright Statement
© 2017 Arora, Nila, Vitharana, Sherwood, Nguyen, Karunaratne, Mohammed, Bodey, Hellyer, Overby, Schroter and Hollis. 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.
License URL
Sponsor
The Royal British Legion
The Royal Society
Grant Number
RG160186
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
41