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Neuroprotection and Regeneration of the Spinal Cord pp 61–74Cite as

Biomechanics of the Spinal Cord and the Pia Mater

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Abstract

Biomechanical analysis of the spinal cord is important to clarify the morphological plasticity of the spinal cord. In the present study, the elastic moduli of the gray and white matter were measured in situ by using a pipette aspiration method. The mechanical properties and function of the pia mater were investigated. Furthermore, the effect of the tensile stress on the morphology of the spinal cord was investigated. No significant difference in elastic moduli was observed between the gray and white matter of spinal cord. The elastic modulus of the pia mater was 2,300 kPa, which was 460 times higher than that of the spinal cord parenchyma. The pia mater triples the elastic modulus of the spinal cord covered by it compared with the parenchyma and increases the overall stiffness of the spinal cord. As a result of being tightly covered by the pia mater, the compressed spinal cord contains a large amount of strain energy, which enables shape restoration after decompression. The length of the spinal cord was decreased by 9.7 % after the separation to remove longitudinal tensile stress. The tensile stress along the craniocaudal axis in the spinal cord did not affect the spinal cord deformation in response to the compression, but it did affect the shape recoverability after the decompression.

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Conflict of Interest  The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tohoku University School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryomachi, Aobaku, Sendai, 980-8574, Japan

    Hiroshi Ozawa

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, Japan

    Takeo Matsumoto

  3. Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

    Toshiro Ohashi

  4. Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8574, Japan

    Masaaki Sato

Authors
  1. Hiroshi Ozawa
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  2. Takeo Matsumoto
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  3. Toshiro Ohashi
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  4. Masaaki Sato
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hiroshi Ozawa .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Orthop & Rehabilit Med, University of Fukui Faculty of Medical Sciences, Yoshida-gun, Fukui, Japan

    Kenzo Uchida

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Masaya Nakamura

  3. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

    Hiroshi Ozawa

  4. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan

    Shinsuke Katoh

  5. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Yoshiaki Toyama

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Ozawa, H., Matsumoto, T., Ohashi, T., Sato, M. (2014). Biomechanics of the Spinal Cord and the Pia Mater. In: Uchida, K., Nakamura, M., Ozawa, H., Katoh, S., Toyama, Y. (eds) Neuroprotection and Regeneration of the Spinal Cord. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54502-6_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54502-6_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo

  • Print ISBN: 978-4-431-54501-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-4-431-54502-6

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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