One of the key findings is the mechanical characterization of the neural activity in a coupled electromechanical domain, which provides insights into the electromechanical behaviour of nervous cells, such as thinning of the membrane. This is a first step toward modelling three-dimensional electromechanical alteration induced by trauma at nerve bundle, tissue, and organ levels.

Axonal damage is one of the most common pathological features of traumatic brain injury, leading to abnormalities in signal propagation for nervous systems. We present a 3D fully coupled electro-mechanical model of a nerve bundle, made with the finite element software Abaqus 6.13-3. The model includes a real-time coupling, modulated threshold for spiking activation and independent alteration of the electrical properties for each 3-layer fibre within the bundle. Compression and tension are simulated to induce damage at the nerve membrane. Changes in strain, stress distribution and neural activity are investigated for myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibres, by considering the cases of an intact and of a traumatized nerve membrane. Results show greater changes in transmitting action potential in the myelinated fibre.

Three-dimensional printing (3DP) has recently gained importance in the medical industry, especially in surgical specialties. It uses different techniques and materials based on patients’ needs, which allows bioprofessionals to design and develop unique pieces using medical imaging provided by computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Therefore, the Department of Biology and Medicine and the Department of Physics and Engineering, at the Bioastronautics and Space Mechatronics Research Group, have managed and supervised an international cooperation study, in order to present a general review of the innovative surgical applications, focused on anatomical systems, such as the nervous and craniofacial system, cardiovascular system, digestive system, genitourinary system, and musculoskeletal system. Finally, the integration with augmented, mixed, virtual reality is analyzed to show the advantages of personalized treatments, taking into account the improvements for preoperative, intraoperative planning, and medical training. Also, this article explores the creation of devices and tools for space surgery to get better outcomes under changing gravity conditions.

We conclude that the insulation sheath of myelin constricts the membrane deformation and scatters plastic strains within the bundle, that larger bundles deform more than small bundles, and that small fibers tolerate a higher level of elongation before mechanical failure.

Equivalence is one of most popular techniques to simulate the behavior of systems governed by the same type of differential equation. In this case, a thermo-electrical equivalence is considered as a method for modelling the inter-dependence of electrical and mechanical phenomena in biological tissue. We seek to assess this approach for multi-scale models (from micro-structure to tissue scale) of biological media, such as nerve cells and cardiac tissue, in which the electrical charge distribution is modelled as a heat distribution in an equivalent thermal system. This procedure allows for the reduction in problem complexity and it facilitates the coupling of electrical and mechanical phenomena in an efficient and practical way. Although the findings of this analysis are mainly addressed towards the electro-mechanics of tissue within the biomedical domain, the same approach could be used in other studies in which a coupled finite element analysis is required.