Database on biomechanical tensile behavior of human Wharton's jelly

Wharton’s jelly (WJ) is a mucous connective tissue of the umbilical cord. It shows high healing capabilities, mainly attributed to the chemical composition and to the presence of stem cells, growth factors and peptides. Although WJ biological properties are well documented in vitro and in vivo, there is still a lack of mechanical data on this tissue, which is paramount for its use as a biomaterial for medical applications. In this study, mechanical responses of ten WJ samples within close physiological conditions were registered undergoing quasi static cyclic tensile tests followed by a load up to failure. This database provides stress/strain curves with cyclic and ultimate behavior of the WJ. The resulting viscous nonlinear elastic response obtained is fully in tune with the literature confirming the database quality. A side of the knowledge improvement on WJ mechanical response, this dataset can feed predictive numerical models and on the other hand increase WJ knowledge in view of its potential use in biomedical field.