Relating strain fields with microtubule changes in porcine cortical sulci following drop impact

The biomechanical response of brain tissue to strain and the immediate neural outcomes are of fundamental importance in understanding mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The sensitivity of neural tissue to dynamic strain events and the resulting strain-induced changes are considered to be a primary factor in injury. Rodent models have been used extensively to investigate impact-induced injury. However, the lissencephalic structure is inconsistent with the human brain, which is gyrencephalic (convoluted structure), and differs considerably in strain field localization effects. Porcine brains have a similar structure to the human brain, containing a similar ratio of white-grey matter and gyrification in the cortex. In this study, coronal brain slabs were extracted from female pig brains within 2hrs of sacrifice. Slabs were implanted with neutral density radiopaque markers, sealed inside an elastomeric encasement, and dropped from 0.9 m onto a steel anvil. Particle tracking revealed elevated tensile strains in the sulcus. One hour after impact, decreased microtubule associated protein 2 (MAP2) was found exclusively within the sulcus with no increase in cell death. These results suggest that elevated tensile strain in the sulcus may result in compromised cytoskeleton, possibly indicating a vulnerability to pathological outcomes under the right circumstances. The results demonstrated that the observed changes were unrelated to shear strain loading of the tissues but were more sensitive to tensile load.