Is ICP Solid or Fluid? In Vitro Biomechanical Model Using a Fluid-Saturated Gel

Abstract

Intracranial pressure is mainly considered to be hydrostatic pressure, but observations demonstrated that ICP is heterogeneous within brain suggesting the presence of a solid pressure. Brain tissue is a biphasic material composed of solid and fluid phases. We hypothesized that in a saturated porous model, fluid and solid phases yielded two pressures. Our brain model was 0.5% agar gel. A quasi static compression was applied using a tensile machine. Pressures were gauged within the gel using two different microsensors. One sensor (A) has an open sensitive area measuring the total pressure, whereas the other sensor (B) has a pressure-sensitive area design that gauges mainly the fluid pressure. There was very good agreement between the pressure applied to the gel and the pressure inside the gel measured with sensor A. However, sensor B systematically underestimated the pressure in the gel. We assume that sensor A gauged the total pressure, which is the sum of the pore fluid pressure and mechanical stress, whereas sensor B probably measured only the fluid pressure. The difference between the two sensors reflects the solid part of the total pressure. ICP has to be considered to be the sum of fluid pressure and solid stress.