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Brain Tissue Mechanical Properties

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Biomechanics of the Brain

Part of the book series: Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering ((BIOMEDICAL))

Abstract

The human brain is soft highly metabolically active tissue, floating in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the rigid cranium. This environment acts to isolate the brain from the majority of external mechanical loads experienced by the head during normal daily life. The brain does experience a range of mechanical loads directly, as a result of blood and CSF flow, and to some extent, body posture. The dynamic balance of pulsatile hydrodynamic forces in the skull is maintained by blood and CSF flow into and out of the skull throughout the cardiac cycle (the Monroe-Kelly hypothesis), since the internal volume of the skull is constant. Reflex responses maintain blood flow during changes in posture and activity, so as to stabilize the mechanical and biochemical environment of the brain.

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Acknowledgements

Lynne Bilston is supported by an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship. She would like to thank Dr Shaokoon Cheng for useful discussions and also for assistance with preparing figures for this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Research Australia and University of New South Wales, Randwick, Sydney, NSW, 2031, Australia

    Lynne E. Bilston

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  1. Lynne E. Bilston
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Correspondence to Lynne E. Bilston .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Intelligent Systems for Medicine Lab., The University of Western Australia, Stirling Highway 35, Crawley/Perth, 6009, West Australia, Australia

    Karol Miller

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Bilston, L.E. (2011). Brain Tissue Mechanical Properties. In: Miller, K. (eds) Biomechanics of the Brain. Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9997-9_4

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