Impact Indentation for Assessing the Mechanical Properties of a Mouse Brain Tissue

Abstract

Source: Canovic, E. P., et. al., Characterizing Multiscale Mechanical Properties of Brain Tissue Using Atomic Force Microscopy, Impact Indentation, and Rheometry. J. Vis. Exp. (2016)

The video demonstrates using impact indentation to measure the mechanical properties of a hydrated mouse brain tissue, including stiffness, energy dissipation, and damping, through probe displacement and velocity analysis.

Protocol

All procedures involving animal samples have been reviewed and approved by the appropriate animal ethical review committee.

1. Impact Indentation
   1. Calibrate the instrumented nanoindenter and adjust default settings to enable dynamic impact experiments on hydrated brain tissues according to the manufacturer's instructions.
      1. Mount a spherical probe by sliding it onto the pendulum using tweezers.
      2. Glue a fused quartz sample onto the sample post, which is screwed into the translational stage.
      3. Go to the Calibration menu and select "Liquid Cell." Follow the software's instructio....

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Hibernate-A Medium	Gibco	A1247501	Carbon dioxide-independent neural medium for adult tissue
Cell-Tak	Corning	354240	Mussel-derived bioadhesive
Instrumented Indenter, NanoTest Vantage	Micro Materials Ltd.		Probe tip needs to be machined (steel flat punch, 1mm diameter, 4-5 mm length)
NanoTest Liquid Cell	Micro Materials Ltd.