Translational models of mild traumatic brain injury tissue biomechanics

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a global health concern. Mild TBI (mTBI) which accounts for the majority of TBI cases, is hard to detect since often the imaging is normal but can still cause brain damage and long-term sequelae. Physiologically, acute primary damage to the brain is thought to be caused by tissue deformation from the inertial movement of the brain after rapid head rotation. Respecting tissue biomechanics, animal models are often used to understand the pathophysiology of mTBI. We have reviewed the literature focusing on connecting biome-chanics with mTBI pathologies at the tissue scale using neuroimaging, neurobehavioral tests, and pathologies across species, particularly studies using strain and strain rate. These studies have found strain and strain rate predict mTBI pathol-ogy and strain is generalizable across species, including small animals, large animals, and humans. We propose that re-searchers can leverage tissue-level strain and strain rate to bridge biomechanics and mTBI pathology.

Automated summary

This review explores the connection between biomechanics and the pathology of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) by utilizing neuroimaging, neurobehavioral tests, and pathological studies across different species. The study findings suggest that strain and strain rate can predict the pathology of mTBI, and the results are applicable to various species.