Abstract Understanding brain mechanics is crucial in the study of pathologies involving brain deformations such as tumor, strokes, or in traumatic brain injury. Apart from the intrinsic mechanical properties of the brain tissue, the topology and geometry of the mammalian brains are particularly important for its mechanical response. We use computational methods in combination with geometric models to understand the role of these features. We find that the geometric quantifiers such as the gyrification index play a fundamental role in the overall mechanical response of the brain. We further demonstrate that topological diversity in brain models is more important than differences in mechanical properties: Topological differences modify not only the stresses and strains in the brain but also its spatial distribution. Therefore, computational brain models should always include detailed geometric information to generate accurate mechanical predictions. These results suggest that mammalian brain gyrification acts as a damping system to reduce mechanical damage in large-mass brain mammals. Our results are relevant in several areas of science and engineering related to brain mechanics, including the study of tumor growth, the understanding of brain folding, and the analysis of traumatic brain injuries.

中文翻译：

---

拓扑特征决定了哺乳动物大脑的机制

摘要 了解脑力学对于研究涉及脑变形（如肿瘤、中风或创伤性脑损伤）的病理学至关重要。除了脑组织的内在机械特性外，哺乳动物大脑的拓扑结构和几何形状对其机械反应尤为重要。我们使用计算方法结合几何模型来理解这些特征的作用。我们发现诸如旋转指数之类的几何量词在大脑的整体机械反应中起着重要作用。我们进一步证明，大脑模型中的拓扑多样性比机械特性的差异更重要：拓扑差异不仅会改变大脑中的应力和应变，还会改变其空间分布。所以，计算大脑模型应始终包含详细的几何信息以生成准确的机械预测。这些结果表明，哺乳动物脑回旋充当阻尼系统，以减少大质量脑哺乳动物的机械损伤。我们的研究结果与脑力学相关的多个科学和工程领域相关，包括对肿瘤生长的研究、对脑折叠的理解以及对创伤性脑损伤的分析。