Localized characterization of brain tissue mechanical properties by needle induced cavitation rheology and volume controlled cavity expansion.

Changes in the elastic properties of brain tissue have been correlated with injury, cancers, and neurodegenerative diseases. However, discrepancies in the reported elastic moduli of brain tissue are persistent, and spatial inhomogeneities complicate the interpretation of macroscale measurements such as rheology. Here we introduce needle induced cavitation rheology (NICR) and volume-controlled cavity expansion (VCCE) as facile methods to measure the apparent Young's modulus E of minimally manipulated brain tissue, at specific tissue locations and with sub-millimeter spatial resolution.

The intimate relationship between cavitation and fracture.

Nearly three decades ago, the field of mechanics was cautioned of the obscure nature of cavitation processes in soft materials [A. Gent, Cavitation in rubber: a cautionary tale, Rubber Chem. Technol.

Volume-controlled cavity expansion for probing of local elastic properties in soft materials.

Cavity expansion can be used to measure the local nonlinear elastic properties in soft materials, regardless of the specific damage or instability mechanism that it may ultimately induce. To that end, we introduce a volume-controlled cavity expansion procedure and an accompanying method that builds on the Cavitation Rheology technique [J. A.