Abstract:Objective The mechanical properties of the calcified aortic valve tissue are important for the biomechanical and pathophysiological studies of the heart valve. At present, studies on the mechanical properties of the calcified valve tissue are limited while the studies on the calcification mechanical properties in atherosclerosis or abdominal aortic aneurysms are abundant. The mechanical properties of calcified tissue from human aortic valve were measured by nanoindentation test in this study. Methods Leaflets from 5 patients with aortic stenosis (56.4±5.2 years old) were collected. Elastic modulus and hardness of the calcified leaflets were obtained by nanoindentation. Results The elastic modulus and hardness of the calcified leaflets tissue were 15.69±3.89 GPa and 0.59±0.15 GPa respectively. Conclusions The elastic modulus and hardness of the calcified valve tissues were obtained by the nanoindentation, which provided experimental data for the valve biomechanical research.