Abstract
Peripheral nerves are very complex biological structures crucial to linking the central nervous system to the periphery of the body. However, their real behaviour is partially unknown because of the intrinsic difficulty of studying these structures in vivo. As a consequence, theoretical and computational tools together with in vitro experiments are widely used to approximate the mechanical response of the peripheral nervous tissue to different kind of solicitations. More specifically, particular conditions narrow the mechanical response of peripheral nerves within the small strain regime. Therefore, in this work, the mechanical response of nerves was investigated through the study of the relationships among strain, stress and displacements within the small strain range. Theoretical predictions were quantitatively compared to experimental evidences, while the displacement field was studied for different values of the tissue compressibility. This framework provided a straightforward computational assessment of the nerve response, which was needed to design suitable connections to biomaterials or neural interfaces within the small strain range.
Highlights
Peripheral nerves are composed by several cellular elements, as Schwann cells, perineurial cells, and axons, enveloped by connective tissue [1]
Depolarization potentials travel through neurons packed within nerves, peripheral nerves link the central nervous system to the periphery of the body
To investigate the behaviour of the peripheral nerves within the small strain range, the nervous tissue was modelled as a solid material, for which the general equilibrium equations [26] in every point of the volume were:
Summary
Peripheral nerves are composed by several cellular elements, as Schwann cells, perineurial cells, and axons (neuronal processes), enveloped by connective tissue [1]. Peripheral nerves are elongated only of a small extent, as in case of movements constrained after medical interventions (e.g., immobilization procedures), or in case of neuropathic tremors [24], or for voluntary/involuntary small and quick movements involving articulations [25]. This kind of response could be interesting “per se”, as well as to evaluate the coupling between nerves and biomaterials, as for acute or chronic implantation of medical devices, interacting with the nervous tissue in these conditions [17]. Numerical results were quantitatively compared to experimental data to test the suitability of the presented framework
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