Biomechanical analysis of open-skull high-rate traumatic brain injury using finite element mouse brain model
Abstract
To better understand traumatic brain injury (TBI), it is necessary to correlate with injuries, which are observed from in vivo laboratory experiments, to brain mechanical responses, which can so far be best predicted by finite element (FE) models. Firstly, a previously validated FE model was improved to investigate the effect of repeated impacts and lateral movements on brain responses to ensure the accuracy and reproducibility of controlled cortical impact (CCI) across different labs. Then, a new FE mouse brain model with the detailed three-dimensional (3D), non-linear vasculature was developed to study how the vasculature affected brain response in CCI and predicted vasculature responses. Lastly, the correlation between brain mechanical strains and microvessel injury induced by CCI was investigated. In summary, the biomechanics of CCI was further characterized and a new mouse brain model with detailed vasculature was developed to understand brain mechanics and microvessel damage.