Figure 9.

A circular–cylindrical model blood vessel (left) is perturbed by minor damage to its elastin layer. A healthy blood vessel is mechanobiologically stable, and its growth and remodelling will compensate for the damage over time to ensure just a minor permanent change of geometry (top). A diseased blood vessel may be mechanobiologically unstable, and its growth and remodelling can result in an uncontrolled dilatation over time, possibly resulting in aneurysm formation (bottom), depending on many factors, including matrix turnover rates, values of the deposition stretch and so forth [96,98]. (Online version in colour.)