2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Investigations of the mechanical properties of the spinal cord at high strain rates for computer simulation model of the spinal cord injury

Research Project

Project/Area Number	21560107
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Materials/Mechanics of materials
Research Institution	Tokuyama College of Technology
Principal Investigator	SAKURAMOTO Itsuo 徳山工業高等専門学校, 機械電気工学科, 教授 (70225853)
Research Collaborator	ICHIHARA Kazuhiko 日本運動器バイオメカニクス研究所, 医師
Project Period (FY)	2009 – 2011
Keywords	生体力学
Research Abstract	In the present study, we made the original high speed tensile equipment(Maximum crosshead speed 1, 000mm/s), and investigated the mechanical properties of the pia mater(postero-lateral sulcus, posterior median septum, dentate ligament) andspinal parenchyma(gray matter, white matter), which are the important parts to analyze the stress distribution within the spinal cord. The results exhibit the characteristic nonlinear and viscoelastic stress-strain response, in which the stiffness of the material increases with strain and strain rate. Furthermore, the gray matter is stiffer but fails at a lower mechanical strain than the white matter at high strain rates.