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Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) is increasingly recognized as an essential layer of the functional vasculature, being responsible for producing vasoactive substances and assisting arterial stress relaxation. Here, we test the hypothesis that PVAT reduces aortic stiffness. Our model was the thoracic aorta of the male Sprague–Dawley rat. Uniaxial mechanical tests for three groups of tissue were performed: aorta with PVAT attached (+PVAT) or removed (−PVAT), and isolated PVAT (PVAT only). The output of the mechanical test is reported in the form of a Cauchy stress-stretch curve. This work presents a novel, physiologically relevant approach to measure mechanical stiffness ex vivo in isolated PVAT. Low-stress stiffness ( E 0 ), high-stress stiffness ( E 1 ), and the stress corresponding to a stretch of 1.2 (σ 1.2 ) were measured as metrics of distensibility. The low-stress stiffness was largest in the −PVAT samples and smallest in PVAT only samples. Both the high-stress stiffness and the stress at 1.2 stretch were significantly higher in −PVAT samples when compared with +PVAT samples. Taken together, these results suggest that −PVAT samples are stiffer (less distensible) both at low stress (not significant) as well as at high stress (significant) when compared with +PVAT samples. These conclusions are supported by the results of the continuum mechanics material model that we also used to interpret the same experimental data. Thus, tissue stiffness is significantly lower when considering PVAT as part of the aortic wall. As such, PVAT should be considered as a target for improving vascular function in diseases with elevated aortic stiffness, including hypertension. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We introduce a novel and physiologically relevant way of measuring perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) mechanical stiffness which shows that PVAT’s low, yet measurable, stiffness is linearly correlated with the amount of collagen fibers present within the tissue. Including PVAT in the measurement of the aortic wall’s mechanical behavior is important, and it significantly affects the resulting metrics by decreasing aortic stiffness. 

Background Hypertension drives myocardial remodeling, leading to changes in structure, composition and mechanical behavior, including residual stress, which are linked to heart disease progression in a gender-specific manner. Emerging therapies are also targeting constituent-specific pathological features. All previous studies, however, have characterized remodeling in the intact tissue, rather than isolated tissue constituents, and did not include sex as a biological variable. Objective In this study we first identified the contribution of collagen fiber network and myocytes to the myocardial residual stress/strain in Dahl-Salt sensitive rats fed with high fat diet. Then, we quantified the effect of hypertension on the remodeling of the left ventricle (LV), as well as the existence of sex-specific remodeling features. Methods We performed mechanical tests (opening angle, ring-test) and histological analysis on isolated constituents and intact tissue of the LV. Based on the measurements from the tests, we performed a stress analysis to evaluate the residual stress distribution. Statistical analysis was performed to identify the effects of constituent isolation, elevated blood pressure, and sex of the animal on the experimental measurements and modeling results. Results Hypertension leads to reduced residual stress/strain in the intact tissue, isolated collagen fibers, and isolated myocytes in male and female rats. Collagen remains the largest contributor to myocardial residual stress in both normotensive and hypertensive animals. We identified sex-differences in both hypertensive and normotensive animals. Conclusions We observed both constituent- and sex-specific remodeling features in the LV of an animal model of hypertension.