Application Note | ElastoSens™ Bio
Measuring mechanical properties of spleen tissue using ElastoSens™ Bio
Introduction
The spleen is a soft, vascular organ whose structure is closely linked to its roles in blood filtration, immune defense, and hematological balance. Its tissue mechanics—such as stiffness, elasticity, and viscoelasticity—are important markers of both normal physiology and pathological change. Alterations in these properties often mirror systemic conditions, making the spleen an informative window into overall health. By studying them, scientists and clinicians can better understand how a healthy spleen functions, detect early signs of disease, and design therapies that restore or preserve performance.
Key mechanical properties of spleen tissue
Elasticity and Stiffness
Elasticity and stiffness describe how the spleen resists deformation and maintains structural integrity under stress. These properties provide insight into the organ’s ability to adapt to physiological changes in blood volume and pressure, as well as its response to pathological remodeling.
Viscoelasticity
The spleen exhibits viscoelastic behavior, meaning its mechanical response combines both immediate elastic recoil and time-dependent viscous flow. This property is particularly relevant in capturing how the spleen accommodates fluctuating hemodynamic loads and adjusts its shape and function over time.
Relationship between diseases and mechanical properties of spleen tissue
Portal hypertension
In portal hypertension, increased vascular pressure is transmitted to the spleen, leading to tissue remodeling and a rise in stiffness. These mechanical changes reflect the hemodynamic burden placed on the organ and can serve as an indicator of disease progression.
Liver fibrosis and cirrhosis
Progressive liver disease directly affects the spleen through shared circulation. In fibrosis and cirrhosis, the spleen often becomes stiffer, reflecting structural and vascular alterations that occur alongside worsening liver pathology.
Myelofibrosis
In hematological disorders such as myelofibrosis, the spleen undergoes mechanical changes that mirror alterations in blood and bone marrow dynamics. Increased stiffness in this context reflects pathological remodeling of splenic tissue and provides an additional dimension to disease characterization.
How spleen tissue mechanics are assessed
In Vivo techniques (Clinics)
In the clinical setting, the mechanical properties of the spleen are assessed non-invasively using elastography techniques. These include ultrasound-based methods such as transient elastography, point shear-wave elastography, and two-dimensional shear-wave elastography, as well as magnetic resonance elastography. These instruments generate gentle mechanical waves in the tissue and measure how fast they travel, which reflects stiffness. Because the spleen lies close to the body surface, these methods provide a practical way to evaluate its elasticity, helping clinicians better understand changes linked to conditions such as portal hypertension or liver disease.
Ex Vivo techniques (Research)
In research settings, the mechanical behavior of spleen tissue is investigated using direct mechanical testing methods applied to excised samples. Instruments such as nanoindentation systems are commonly employed to capture tissue stiffness and viscoelasticity under controlled laboratory conditions. This tool provides complementary data to in vivo imaging, allowing scientists to study spleen mechanics in greater detail and under standardized experimental protocols.
Case study: Spleen tissue mechanical characterization with ElastoSens™ Bio
ElastoSens™ Bio: a contactless tool for Ex Vivo tissue testing
In the field of spleen biomechanics, the ElastoSens™ Bio offers an innovative approach to ex vivo testing. This instrument measures viscoelastic properties continuously and non-destructively, ensuring that the structural integrity of the tissue is preserved throughout experiments. Its technology enables precise characterization of soft biological samples and supports repeated testing over extended periods under different environmental conditions, broadening the insights gained beyond those provided by traditional mechanical assays.
To demonstrate the capabilities of the ElastoSens™ Bio, we conducted an ex vivo study on spleen tissue samples. The following section presents the materials and methods employed in this experiment, followed by the results, providing a practical example of the instrument’s application.
Material and methods
Sheep spleen tissue was obtained from a local farm. Cylindrical specimens (23 mm internal diameter, variable height) were excised using a biopsy-like punch. To prevent drying, samples were immersed in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) overnight at 4 °C prior to testing. Each specimen was then placed in the macro holder of the ElastoSens™ Bio instrument and equilibrated at 37 °C for 1 hour. Excess PBS was gently removed before measurement.
The instrument provided real-time viscoelastic parameters, including the shear storage modulus (G′) and the shear loss modulus (G″). For each condition, results were expressed as mean values obtained from three samples, collected from different regions of the same spleen (n = 3).
Figure 1. Sheep spleen tissue prepared and loaded into the ElastoSens™ Bio macro holders for non-destructive viscoelastic characterization. The top panel shows the intact spleen sample prior to sectioning, and the bottom panel shows representative spleen portions placed in the holders for testing.
Results and discussion
The viscoelastic properties of sheep spleen tissue were evaluated using the ElastoSens™ Bio non-destructive testing system (Figure 2). The shear storage modulus (G′) and shear loss modulus (G″) were measured as 1090 ± 159 Pa and 380 ± 74 Pa, respectively (n = 3). These measurements capture the viscoelastic response of spleen tissue, consistent with its function as a structurally supportive and vascularized organ.
For comparison, Nicolle et al. (2012) evaluated the viscoelastic behavior of porcine spleen using a conventional rheometer and reported G′ values of approximately 700–900 Pa. These values are of the same order of magnitude as our measurements, with small differences that may reflect species variation or experimental conditions. A practical advantage of the ElastoSens™ Bio is its non-destructive testing approach, which allows repeated measurements on the same specimen while maintaining the spleen’s layered architecture, thereby providing a more integrated representation of the organ’s mechanical response.
Figure 2: Viscoelastic properties of sheep spleen tissue: shear storage modulus (G′) and shear loss modulus (G’’) obtained with the ElastoSens™ Bio non-destructive testing system (mean ± SD, n=3).
Conclusions and perspectives
The mechanical properties of spleen tissue—characterized by elasticity, viscoelasticity, and microstructural heterogeneity—are central to understanding its physiological role in blood filtration and immune regulation. The present study demonstrates that non-destructive viscoelastic testing with the ElastoSens™ Bio enables reliable quantification of spleen mechanics, capturing key parameters such as shear storage modulus (G′) and shear loss modulus (G′′). This approach provides precise and reproducible data, offering a robust baseline for both biomedical research and cross-species comparisons.
Beyond these findings, the ElastoSens™ Bio offers unique advantages for spleen and soft-tissue research:
- Simple preparation and setup minimize handling and preserve spleen tissue hydration and structural integrity.
- High sensitivity and repeatability allow consistent measurements across different splenic regions, capturing intra-organ variability.
- Cross-species benchmarking supports translational research by enabling direct comparisons of spleen mechanics in animal models and humans.
- Platform versatility allows testing of diverse soft tissues and biomaterials under identical conditions, useful for developing splenic scaffolds, implants, or therapeutic biomaterials.
- Engineered tissue applications benefit from non-destructive, repeated measurements that reflect the dynamic evolution of bioengineered splenic constructs.
- Controlled incubation and repeated testing make it possible to monitor changes in viscoelastic properties over time, whether due to hemodynamic alterations, pharmacological interventions, or disease progression.
Taken together, these capabilities position the ElastoSens™ Bio as a powerful tool for advancing our understanding of spleen biomechanics, comparative organ physiology, and the design of biomaterials inspired by or intended to interact with splenic tissue.
References
GIBIINO, G., Garcovich, M., Ainora, M. E., & Zocco, M. A. (2019). Spleen ultrasound elastography: state of the art and future directions-a systematic review. European Review for Medical & Pharmacological Sciences, 23(10).
Mazur, R., Celmer, M., Silicki, J., Hołownia, D., Pozowski, P., & Międzybrodzki, K. (2018). Clinical applications of spleen ultrasound elastography–a review. Journal of ultrasonography, 18(72), 37.
Wu, G., Gotthardt, M., & Gollasch, M. (2020). Assessment of nanoindentation in stiffness measurement of soft biomaterials: kidney, liver, spleen and uterus. Scientific reports, 10(1), 18784.
Nicolle, S., Noguer, L., & Palierne, J.-F. (2012). Shear mechanical properties of the spleen: Experiment and analytical modelling. Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, 9, 130–136.
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