Brain maturation is associated with increasing tissue stiffness and decreasing tissue fluidity.
Jing Guo1, Gergely Bertalan1, David Meierhofer2
1Department of Radiology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Germany.
Acta Biomaterialia
|August 27, 2019
Summary
Brain maturation stiffens brain tissue by altering protein structures, impacting neuronal development. This study maps these biomechanical changes using novel imaging and proteomic techniques.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Biophysics
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Biomechanical cues are crucial for neuronal development.
- The molecular basis of brain tissue viscoelasticity and its role in neural maturation are largely unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the correlation between mouse brain viscoelasticity and protein alterations during maturation.
- To map the biomechanical properties of the developing brain in vivo.
Main Methods:
- Novel in vivo tomoelastography for high-resolution viscoelasticity mapping.
- Ex vivo mass spectrometry proteomics to identify molecular changes.
- Combined imaging and proteomic analysis of the maturing mouse brain.
Main Results:
- Generated high-resolution atlases of brain viscoelasticity during maturation.
- Observed increased brain stiffness correlated with microtubule accumulation, myelination, and cytoskeleton linkage.
- Noted decreased tissue fluidity linked to downregulated actin crosslinking and axonal organization.
Conclusions:
- Brain maturation involves a shift towards more solid-rigid mechanical properties with reduced tissue fluidity.
- This biophysical shift is driven by molecular processes including myelination, cytoskeletal crosslinking, and axonal organization.
- The study identifies a fundamental biophysical signature of brain maturation.
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