Software tools to quantify residual solid stresses from 3D microscopy images in the murine brain

Residual mechanical stresses, or solid stresses, develop during tissue growth or remodeling and differ from fluid pressures. These stresses usually diminish as growth slows in healthy organs. However, even healthy adult brains exhibit high residual stresses, whose origins and effects in health, aging, and disease are not fully understood. We used a method to map these stresses in mice brains at different ages. We found that solid stress increases significantly from early to mature stages and remains high in older brains. Mapping showed higher stresses in the posterior brain sections. Lower ionic strength increases solid stresses, possibly due to the expansion of charged components in the extracellular matrix. Hemorrhagic stroke reduces residual stress, suggesting a link between cellular density and stress levels. These findings enhance our understanding of solid stress dynamics in healthy and diseased brains.

Our complete work so far can be found at: Alteration of mechanical stresses in the murine brain by age and hemorrhagic stroke

This repository contains a workflow and sample images that can be used to execute each analysis according to the README file.