Directional Properties of Gray and White Brain Tissue Undergoing Large Deformation

Biomechanical analyses of diffuse axonal injury (DAI) suggest a link between brain material response (stress or strain) and white matter injury (Margulies et al., 1990; Meaney et al., 1994; Mendis et al., 1995; Lee et al., 1987; Zhou et al., 1994). Material properties of the brain tissue, including a description of their inhomogeneity, are important to predict intracranial deformations from the applied inertial loads. It is essential that these properties are defined separately for the gray and white matter, and account for the potential nonlinear viscoelasticity at finite strains.