N. Abolfathi,∗ G. Karami,∗ and M. Ziejewski∗
Cell, model, brain, biomechanics, viscoelastic, impact loading
Cell injuries can happen due to deformation and stresses caused under mechanical loadings. Analysis of a living cell under impact loading, and investigation of the influence of its mechanical prop- erties are the main subjects of this paper. The unit brain cell is assumed to be composed of pre-stressed cytoskeleton, cytoplasm, nucleus and membrane. Three-dimensional finite elements are em- ployed to simulate the biomechanical behaviour of an individual cell. A combination of the continuum and microstructural (tensegrity system) modelling procedures will be used to obtain a compound and a complete simulation of the brain cell. To study the influence of the tensegrity infrastructure system on load transferring properties of the cell, the response of the model is studied with, and without, the inclusion of the microstructural system. The responses of both types of modelling under an impact loading are examined. The impacts due to viscous behaviours of the components of the cell on tensegrity microstructure (microfilament and microtubules), as well as on the continuum model are studied. It is shown that the viscose microtubules do not influence a major change on the magnitude of the deformation but they do change the time response of the system. The other property which has come under investigations is the elastic stiffness of the nucleus.
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