Neurotrauma and Repair Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, 351 Engineering Terrace, 1210 Amsterdam Avenue MC 8904, New York, NY 10027, USA.
Ann Biomed Eng. 2012 Jan;40(1):70-8. doi: 10.1007/s10439-011-0394-2. Epub 2011 Oct 20.
Rat is the most commonly used animal model for the study of traumatic brain injury. Recent advances in imaging and computational modeling technology offer the promise of biomechanical models capable of resolving individual brain structures and offering greater insight into the causes and consequences of brain injury. However, there is insufficient data on the mechanical properties of brain structures available to populate these models. In this study, we used microindentation to determine viscoelastic properties of different anatomical structures in sagittal slices of juvenile and adult rat brain. We find that the rat brain is spatially heterogeneous in this anatomical plane supporting previous results in the coronal plane. In addition, the brain becomes stiffer and more heterogeneous as the animal matures. This dynamic, region-specific data will support the development of more biofidelic computational models of brain injury biomechanics and the testing of hypotheses about the manner in which different anatomical structures are injured in a head impact.
大鼠是研究创伤性脑损伤最常用的动物模型。成像和计算建模技术的最新进展有望实现生物力学模型，能够解析单个脑结构，并更深入地了解脑损伤的原因和后果。然而，目前用于填充这些模型的脑结构力学特性数据还不够充分。在这项研究中，我们使用微压痕法来确定幼年和成年大鼠脑矢状切片中不同解剖结构的黏弹性特性。我们发现，在这个解剖平面上，大鼠脑具有空间异质性，这与之前在冠状平面上的结果一致。此外，随着动物的成熟，大脑变得更加僵硬和更加异质。这种动态的、具有区域特异性的数据将支持开发更逼真的脑损伤生物力学计算模型，并检验不同解剖结构在头部冲击中受到损伤的方式的假设。
