A Tensegrity Framework to Study Force Balance in Tissues

Redistribution of applied forces in biological tissues is critical to both function and damage prevention. Mechanistic understanding of force balance in individual tissues is somewhat lacking. In many cases this is due to tissue inaccessibility, which eliminates the possibility to probe material properties and responses in situ. Dural reflections, part of the outermost meningeal layer, are responsible for maintaining the position of and divisions between brain lobes. Though evidently a key function, how reflections balance applied forces, both acute and chronic, in the cranium is unknown. We have therefore chosen to build a tensegrity framework through which unperturbed prestressed states as well as applied force conditions can be investigated in silico. Tensegrities are comprised of a continuous tensile network with interspersed compression-bearing elements and offer the possibility to study the geometric maintenance and deformation of tissues in various states. Here we present a tensegrity system of the largest reflection, the Falx cerebri, which sits between the left and right hemispheres of the cerebrum. By modelling the Falx as an elastic sheet under tension with boundaries under either tension or compression, we explore the distribution of stress over the tissue and the range of applied force over which geometric integrity is maintained.