Susceptibility of hippocampal neurons to mechanically induced injury.

Experimental models of traumatic cortical brain injury in rodents reveal that specific regions of the hippocampus (e.g., CA3 and hilar subfields) are severely injured despite their distance from the initial insult.

Mechanical stretch to neurons results in a strain rate and magnitude-dependent increase in plasma membrane permeability.

The mechanism by which mechanical impact to brain tissue is transduced to neuronal impairment remains poorly understood. Using an in vitro model of neuronal stretch, we found that mechanical stretch of neurons resulted in a transient plasma membrane permeability increase. Primary cortical neurons, seeded on silicone substrates, were subjected to a defined rate and magnitude strain pulse by stretching the substrates over a fixed cylindrical form.