title: On the characterization of the heterogeneous mechanical response of human brain tissue.
abstract: The mechanical characterization of brain tissue is a complex task that scientists have tried to accomplish for over 50 years. The results in the literature often differ by orders of magnitude because of the lack of a standard testing protocol. Different testing conditions (including humidity, temperature, strain rate), the methodology adopted, and the variety of the species analysed are all potential sources of discrepancies in the measurements. In this work, we present a rigorous experimental investigation on the mechanical properties of human brain, covering both grey and white matter. The influence of testing conditions is also shown and thoroughly discussed. The material characterization performed is finally adopted to provide inputs to a mathematical formulation suitable for numerical simulations of brain deformation during surgical procedures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK. antonio.forte10@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Antonio E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Forte
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, W12 0NN, UK.
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Gentleman
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK.
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dini
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
keywords: Abaqus; FE modelling; Heterogeneous; Human brain tissue; Humidity and temperature; Mechanical properties