Dresden 2020 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 31: Computational Biophysics (joint session BP/CPP)

BP 31.6: Talk

Thursday, March 19, 2020, 10:45–11:00, SCH A251

The role of thickness inhomogeneities in brain folding — •Lucas da Costa Campos^{1, 2}, Svenja Caspers^{2, 3, 4}, Gerhard Gompper¹, and Jens Elgeti¹ — ¹Theoretical Soft Matter and Biophysics (ICS-2 / IAS-2), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany — ²Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Germany — ³JARA-Brain, Jülich-Aachen Research Alliance, Jülich, Germany — ⁴Institute for Anatomy I, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany

The morphology of the mammalian brain cortex is highly folded. Misfolds of the brain correlate with a long list of cognitive disabilities, such as schizophrenia and epilepsy. Having realistic models of gyrogenesis is the first step in the understanding of these issues. It has been hypothesized that mechanical instabilities play an essential role in gyrogenesis. However, the emergence of higher order folding, one of the main characteristics of the human brain, has not been fully tackled. We perform finite element simulations of rectangular slabs divided into two distinct regions. Differential growth is introduced by growing the top layer (gray matter) tangentially, while keeping the underlying layer (white matter) unchanged. The material is modelled as a Neohookean hyperelastic. Simulations are performed with system with either homogeneous or inhomogeneous cortical thickness. In early stages of development, we obtain structures reminiscent of the deep sulci in the brain, which can be mapped into the primary sulci. As the cortex continues to develop, we obtain secondary undulations whose characteristics are consistent with those of higher order folding.