Blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) has been widely accepted as a “signature” wound affecting service members in modern conflicts, yet the mechanisms that cause bTBI still remain poorly understood. One of the main reasons for such poor understanding is the technical challenge of reproducing under controlled laboratory conditions the typical time-varying loading cycles induced on brain tissue after a blast event. Blast events have a sub-millisecond onset of high pressure followed by complex dynamics resulting from interaction between the blast wave and the complex anatomical structure of the human head. To tackle these experimental challenges, our group developed a novel apparatus using a water-filled piston-cylinder assembly driven by a piezoelectric actuator to generate complex and fast-varying pressure profiles. The versatility of our apparatus in producing complex pressure profiles was demonstrated by generating a single pressure pulse with various pulse-widths and magnitudes, an approximate Friedlander waveform, and a multi-modal waveform. A feedforward controller was also designed for the apparatus enhancing its capabilities to generate custom, user-defined pressure profiles. The apparatus successfully generated pressures up to 450 kPa at frequencies up to 5 kHz. The designed apparatus is compact, easily portable, and highly controllable, making it well suited for biomedical applications. This apparatus can be used to conduct ex-vivo and in-vitro experiments involving animal brain tissue specimens, cell cultures, and organoids to explore their response to the complex pressure loadings observed during a bTBI event.

爆炸诱发的颅脑外伤（bTBI）已被广泛接受为在现代冲突中影响服务人员的“标志性”伤口，但导致bTBI的机制仍知之甚少。理解欠佳的主要原因之一是在爆炸事件后在受控的实验室条件下繁殖脑组织上诱导的典型时变加载周期的技术挑战。爆炸事件具有亚毫秒级的高压发作，然后是爆炸波与人头复杂的解剖结构之间的相互作用导致的复杂动力学。为了解决这些实验挑战，我们的小组开发了一种新颖的设备，该设备使用充满水的活塞缸组件，该组件由压电致动器驱动，以产生复杂且快速变化的压力曲线。通过生成具有各种脉冲宽度和大小的单个压力脉冲，近似弗里德兰德波形和多模式波形，证明了我们设备在产生复杂压力曲线中的多功能性。还为该设备设计了前馈控制器，以增强其生成定制的，用户定义的压力曲线的能力。该设备在高达5 kHz的频率下成功产生了高达450 kPa的压力。设计的设备紧凑，易于携带且高度可控，非常适合生物医学应用。该仪器可用于进行 还为该设备设计了前馈控制器，以增强其生成定制的，用户定义的压力曲线的能力。该设备在高达5 kHz的频率下成功产生了高达450 kPa的压力。设计的设备紧凑，易于携带且高度可控，非常适合生物医学应用。该仪器可用于进行 还为该设备设计了前馈控制器，以增强其生成定制的，用户定义的压力曲线的能力。该设备在高达5 kHz的频率下成功产生了高达450 kPa的压力。设计的设备紧凑，易于携带且高度可控，非常适合生物医学应用。该仪器可用于进行涉及动物脑组织标本，细胞培养物和类器官的离体和体外实验，以探讨它们对bTBI事件中观察到的复杂压力负荷的反应。