Average Biomechanical Responses of the Human Brain Grouped by Age and Sex

Abstract

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) occur from rapid head motion that results in brain deformation. Computational models are typically used to estimate brain deformation to predict risk of injury and evaluate the effectiveness of safety countermeasures. The accuracy of these models relies on validation to experimental brain deformation data. In this study, we create the first group-average biomechanical responses of the brain, including structure, material properties, and deformation response, by age and sex from 157 subjects. Subjects were sorted intro three age groups—young, mid-age, and older—and by sex to create group-average neuroanatomy, material properties, and brain deformation response to non-injurious loading using structural and specialized magnetic resonance imaging data. Computational models were also built using the group-average geometry and material properties for each of the six groups. The material properties did not depend on sex, but showed a decrease in shear stiffness in the older adult group. The brain deformation response also showed differences in the distribution of strain and a decrease in the magnitude of maximum strain in the older adult group. The computational models were simulated using the same non-injurious loading conditions as the subject data. While the models’ strain response showed differences among the models, there were no clear relationships with age. Further studies, both modeling and experimental, with more data from subjects in each age group, are needed to clarify the mechanisms underlying the observed changes in strain response with age, and for computational models to better match the trends observed across the group-average responses.