A paper entitled Measurement of viscoelastic properties of injured mouse brain after controlled cortical impact published in the journal Biophysics Report on Aug 1, reveals new methods found by a Chinese group for understanding the mechanism behind traumatic brain injury, according to a statement on the public WeChat account of the Biophysical Society of China, or BSC.

The mechanical properties of brain tissue can provide vital information for understanding the mechanism behind traumatic brain injury (TBI). As mouse models were commonly adopted for TBI studies, a method to produce injury to the brain and characterize the injured tissue was desired.

Led by Feng Yuan, the research group is from the Institute of Medical Imaging and Informatics, at the School of Biomedical Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It presented a complete workflow of TBI induction, sample preparation and biomechanical characterization for measurement of the injured brain tissue, which was published in the paper.

During their research, a controlled cortical impact device was used to induce injury to the brain.

By setting the angle, speed and position of the impact, the level of brain injuries could be controlled. Viscoelastic properties of both injured and non-injured brain tissues were measured using a ramp-hold indentation test.

Regions of interests (ROIs) were tested and compared to contralateral corresponding counterparts. Methods introduced in the paper can easily be extended to produce and test a variety of other injured soft biological tissue.