An optofluidic mechanical system for elasticity measurement of thin biological tissues

As dura mater has an anisotropic fibrous structure and exists under wet and dynamic stretching conditions in the brain, its mechanical properties have not yet been properly investigated. Here we developed a fluid-assisted mechanical system integrated with a photonic sensor and a pressure sensor in order to measure the elasticity of the dura mater. Porcine dura mater sample was loaded as a stretched diaphragm into a liquid chamber to mimic the in vivo condition. Increasing the flow rate of saline solution into the chamber swelled and deformed the dura mater. The micron-scale deflection of the dura mater was optically detected by the photonic sensor. Fluid pressure and deflection values were then used to calculate the elastic modulus. The average elastic modulus of the porcine dura mater was 31.14 MPa. We further measured the elasticity of a well-known material to further validate the system. We expect that this optofluidic system developed in this study will be useful to measure the elasticity of a variety of thin biological tissues.