Rheological properties of the human and porcine oral mucosa

The objective of this study was to characterize the viscoelastic shear properties of gingival connective tissue under physiological conditions in humans and pigs. Porcine tissue is commonly used as a preclinical model due to its anatomical and mechanical similarity to human gingiva, which supports translational studies for gingival tissue engineering.

Human (n = 17) and porcine (n = 15) hard palate oral mucosa samples were subjected to histological characterization and shear rheological testing. Storage (G') and loss (G″) moduli were measured at 1 Hz for the epithelium, lamina propria, and whole mucosa in both species.

At 1 Hz, storage and loss moduli were within the same order of magnitude for human and porcine tissues across all analyzed layers. In human samples, mean storage modulus (G') values were 6.9 ± 2.3 kPa for the epithelium, 2.9 ± 0.5 kPa for the lamina propria, and 11.0 ± 7.1 kPa for the whole mucosa. Corresponding porcine values were 5.0 ± 2.0 kPa, 4.6 ± 3.9 kPa, and 7.6 ± 2.6 kPa, respectively. Overall, the viscoelastic response of palatal oral mucosa was comparable between species.

The similar viscoelastic behavior observed in human and porcine gingival tissues supports the relevance of the porcine model for investigating gingival biomechanics. These findings provide quantitative shear modulus benchmarks that may inform the design and mechanical tuning of biomimetic scaffolds for gingival tissue engineering.