The meninges are pivotal in protecting the brain against traumatic brain injury (TBI), an ongoing issue in most mainstream sports. Improved understanding of TBI biomechanics and pathophysiology is desirable to improve preventative measures, such as protective helmets, and advance our TBI diagnostic/prognostic capabilities. This study mechanically characterised the porcine meninges by performing uniaxial tensile testing on the dura mater (DM) tissue adjacent to the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes of the cerebellum and superior sagittal sinus region of the DM. Mechanical characterisation revealed a significantly higher elastic modulus for the superior sagittal sinus region when compared to other regions in the DM. The superior sagittal sinus and parietal regions of the DM also displayed local mechanical anisotropy. Further, fatigue was noted in the DM following ten preconditioning cycles, which could have important implications in the context of repetitive TBI. To further understand differences in regional mechanical properties, regional variations in protein content (collagen I, collagen III, fibronectin and elastin) were examined by immunoblot analysis. The superior sagittal sinus was found to have significantly higher collagen I, elastin, and fibronectin content. The frontal region was also identified to have significantly higher collagen I and fibronectin content while the temporal region had increased elastin and fibronectin content. Regional differences in the mechanical and biochemical properties along with regional tissue thickness differences within the DM reveal that the tissue is a non-homogeneous structure. In particular, the potentially influential role of the superior sagittal sinus in TBI biomechanics warrants further investigation.

Statement of Significance

This study addresses the lack of regional mechanical analysis of the cortical meninges, particularly the dura mater (DM), with accompanying biochemical analysis. To mechanically characterise the stiffness of the DM by region, uniaxial tensile testing was carried out on the DM tissue adjacent to the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes along with the DM tissue associated with the superior sagittal sinus. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the work presented here identifies, for the first time, the heterogeneous nature of the DM’s mechanical stiffness by region. In particular, this study identifies the significant difference in the stiffness of the DM tissue associated with the superior sagittal sinus when compared to the other DM regions. Constitutive modelling was carried out on the regional mechanical testing data for implementation in Finite Element models with improved biofidelity. This work also presents the first biochemical analysis of the collagen I and III, elastin, and fibronectin content within DM tissue by region, providing useful insights into the accompanying macro-scale biomechanical data.

中文翻译：

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猪皮质脑膜的区域力学和生化特性

脑膜对于保护大脑免受创伤性脑损伤（TBI）至关重要，而创伤性脑损伤是大多数主流运动中一个持续存在的问题。需要更好地了解TBI生物力学和病理生理学，以改善预防措施，例如防护头盔，并提高我们的TBI诊断/预后能力。这项研究通过对邻近小脑额叶，顶叶，颞叶和枕叶和DM上矢状窦区域的硬脑膜（DM）组织进行单轴拉伸测试，对猪的脑膜进行了机械表征。与DM中的其他区域相比，机械特性显示上矢状窦区域的弹性模量明显更高。DM的上矢状窦和顶区也显示出局部机械各向异性。进一步，在十个预处理周期后，DM中注意到疲劳，这可能在重复TBI的情况下具有重要意义。为了进一步了解区域机械性能的差异，通过免疫印迹分析检查了蛋白质含量（胶原蛋白I，胶原蛋白III，纤连蛋白和弹性蛋白）的区域变化。发现上矢状窦具有明显更高的胶原蛋白I，弹性蛋白和纤连蛋白含量。额叶区域还被确定具有明显更高的胶原蛋白I和纤连蛋白含量，而颞区具有增加的弹性蛋白和纤连蛋白含量。机械和生化特性的区域差异以及DM内区域组织厚度的差异表明该组织是不均匀的结构。尤其是，

重要声明

这项研究解决了皮质脑膜，特别是硬脑膜（DM）缺乏区域力学分析以及伴随的生化分析。为了通过区域机械表征DM的刚度，对与额叶，顶叶，颞叶和枕叶相邻的DM组织以及与上矢状窦相关的DM组织进行了单轴拉伸测试。据作者所知，此处介绍的工作首次按区域确定了DM机械刚度的异质性。特别是，这项研究发现与其他DM区域相比，与上矢状窦相关的DM组织的刚度存在显着差异。在区域力学测试数据上进行了本构模型，以在具有更高生物保真度的有限元模型中实施。这项工作还按区域提供了DM组织中胶原I和III，弹性蛋白和纤连蛋白含量的首次生化分析，从而为随附的宏观生物力学数据提供了有用的见识。