Abstract #4746

Mechanical stiffness of human brain tissue is inversely correlated with FA and MTR

Christoph Birkl¹, Silvia Budday², Gerhard Sommer³, Melanie Bauer², Paul Steinmann², Johannes Haybaeck^4,5, Ellen Kuhl⁶, Gerhard A. Holzapfel^3,7, Franz Fazekas¹, Stefan Ropele¹, and Christian Langkammer¹

¹Department of Neurology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria, ²Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Erlangen-Nuermberg, Erlangen, Germany, ³Institute of Biomechanics, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria, ⁴Department of Neuropathology, Institute of Pathology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria, ⁵Department of Pathology, Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany, ⁶Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering, Stanford University, CA, United States, ⁷Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway

In this study, we investigated the mechanical stiffness of human brain tissue assessed by triaxial testing of post-mortem tissue specimens in relation to magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) and diffusion tensor MRI. Our results showed a strong inverse correlation of MTR and FA with the tissue stiffness. Anisotropy of the stiffness was not observed, which indicates that the neuronal fiber orientation does not mechanically support the tissue.

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