Residual Stress in the Mouse Brain

Proper folding of the cerebral cortex is critical to normal human brain function. The mechanisms of cortical folding, however, remain incompletely understood, although they have intrigued neuroscientists for more than a century. Clearly a biomechanical problem, cortical folding has been speculated to result from stresses induced by differential or constrained growth [1]. More recently, investigators have postulated that tension in neural axons of cerebral white matter causes specific folding patterns [2]. However, it is uncertain if sustained tension exists in axons in both the developing and mature brain.