ABSTRACT
Brain tissue mechanical properties have been of interest to researchers for approximately half a century, with an increasing focus from the late 1960s onwards. Early studies were largely motivated by a desire to understand the mechanisms of traumatic brain injury. The mechanical properties of the brain underpin the response of the brain tissue to any applied mechanical loading. Such loading ranges from rapid loads that occur during traumatic events that give rise to brain injury, both in civilian and military contexts, to quasi-static loading that occurs during growth and development of the brain, and some chronic brain disorders. Brain tissue can be compressed due to external loading that is sufficient to cause very large skull deformations or fracture, but it is also common in neurological disorders, such as hydrocephalus or intracranial tumours, that compress the brain tissue from within. The human brain has a mass of approximately 1.2 kg in adult females and 1.3 kg in males.
