Klationship of Decreased Brain Tissue Vicoelasticity to Traumatic Axonal Injury Following Traumatic Brain Injury

摘要

In this study, we explore whether brain tissue viscoelasticity (TVE) decreases following traumatic brain injury (TBI), and whether alteration in TVE is found in relation to traumatic axonal injury (TAI). Adult male rats underwent impact acceleration TBI. One group of animals were immediately euthanized and TVE was determined by a step and hold indentation technique, Indentation was performed at the brainstem pontomedullary junction (PmJ) and pyramidal decussation (PDx). A separate group of animals survived 3 hours post-injury, with APP immunostaining performed to identify TAI. In TBI-injured rats, the instantaneous elastic response was reduced 70% at the PDx and 40% at the PmJ, with a uniform 30% reduction in relaxation compared to sham injured controls. A 10-fold increase in TAI occurred at the PDx vs. the PmJ. The current investigation reveals brain TVE is altered following TBI in relation to sites of TAI This study is the first step in developing a finite element model of TBI that incorporates pathobiologically meaningful datasets.