The Effect of Surface Microinjury on the Behavior of Aortic Valve Calcification

Abstract

Calcific Aortic Valve Disease (CAVD) is a disease in which a patient's aortic valve is biomineralized to form calcified plaques and cause damage to valve function, thus affecting the normal flow of blood to the heart. CAVD can lead to stenosis or insufficient closure of heart valves, which may lead to serious complications such as abnormal blood flow to the heart. The main components of natural valves are collagen, elastin, and glycosaminoglycans, of which collagen can be used as a nucleation site for calcium deposition, and when the valve surface suffers microinjury, the exposed collagen can easily induce calcium deposition and lead to the disease. In this study, we constructed a porcine aortic valve surface damage model to simulate the calcification process of the aortic valve in vitro. We analyzed the relevant samples by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Spectrum Analysis (EDS), X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Attenuation Total Reflection (FTIR-ATR), and Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis (TGA). The SEM and EDS spectroscopy confirmed that calcium deposition at the damaged parts of the valves was faster and that the sample contained a high concentration of calcium.; XRD analysis showed that the composition of the deposits was mainly dicalcium phosphate dihydrate (DCPD) and hydroxyapatite (HAp); FTIR-ATR results showed that the calcium deposits were carbonate-containing phosphates; TGA results further demonstrated that microinjury of heart valves accelerated the process of calcification and facilitated calcium deposition. The in vitro surface microinjury model used in this study is expected to be an effective model for rapid simulation of the in vivo calcification process.

Keywords

• aortic valve
• collagen
• surface morphology
• microinjury
• calcification
• biomineralization