Does Blast Exposure to the Torso Cause a Blood Surge to the Brain?

作者：Jose E. Rubio, Maciej Skotak, Eren Alay, Aravind Sundaramurthy, Dhananjay Radhakrishnan Subramaniam, Vivek Bhaskar Kote, Stewart Yeoh, Kenneth L. Monson, N. Chandra, Ginu Unnikrishnan, Jaques Reifman · 发表于：Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology · 年份：2020 · DOI：10.3389/fbioe.2020.573647 · 被引用次数：17 · 研究领域：Traumatic Brain Injury and Neurovascular Disturbances、Automotive and Human Injury Biomechanics、Traumatic Brain Injury Research

The interaction of explosion-induced blast waves with the torso is suspected to contribute to brain injury. In this indirect mechanism, the wave-torso interaction is assumed to generate a blood surge, which ultimately reaches and damages the brain. However, this hypothesis has not been comprehensively and systematically investigated, and the potential role, if any, of the indirect mechanism in causing brain injury remains unclear. In this interdisciplinary study, we performed experiments and developed mathematical models to address this knowledge gap. First, we conducted blast-wave exposures of Sprague-Dawley rats in a shock tube at incident overpressures of 70 and 130 kPa, where we measured carotid-artery and brain pressures while limiting exposure to the torso. Then, we developed three-dimensional (3-D) fluid-structure interaction (FSI) models of the neck and cerebral vasculature and, using the measured carotid-artery pressures, performed simulations to predict mass flow rates and wall shear stresses in the cerebral vasculature. Finally, we developed a 3-D finite element (FE) model of the brain and used the FSI-computed vasculature pressures to drive the FE model to quantify the blast-exposure effects in the brain tissue. The measurements from the torso-only exposure experiments revealed marginal increases in the peak carotid-artery overpressures (from 13.1 to 28.9 kPa). Yet, relative to the blast-free, normotensive condition, the FSI simulations for the blast exposures pre...