Discover how wrinkles form through 3D printed brain

Thanks to the 3D printed brain model, Harvard scientists (USA) discovered how the human cortex formed wrinkles. The brain folds are not really present in all animals, and are limited to some mammals, dolphins, elephants and pigs. Although the link between these wrinkles and the cognitive function of the animal has been previously recorded, scientists have not been able to fully understand the problem.

In humans, brain folds begin to form around the 20th week of pregnancy, and continue until the baby is 18 months old.The appearance of wrinkles as part of the brain's development process , with the number, size, shape and position of neurons, all contribute to the cortical expansion, also called gray matter - refers to the underlying nerve and spinal cord tissue.

To simulate this folding motion on an artificial brain structure, the researchers conducted MRI of human fetuses. With the data in hand, they created a smooth 3D printing gel model, which looked just like the fetal brain before the fold formed. Next, the team covered their model with a thin elastic gel layer. To reproduce the natural processes of cortical expansion, the artificial brain is immersed in a solvent, causing the outer layer to expand and expand. In just a few minutes, the outer layer of the 'brain' has formed folds like a real brain.

The appearance of wrinkles as part of the brain's development process.

"We found that it was possible to imitate the cortex folding process with a very simple physical principle and get the same results as what we see in the fetal brain really , " said L. Mahadevan. in the research scientists said. According to experts, the shape and location of wrinkles - the result of cortical expansion, is very important for health . "The shape of the brain is really important because it directs the folds to form in a certain direction , " said Jun Young Chung of the research group. "The brain is not exactly the same for everyone, but we should all have big folds to be healthy."

The new finding could help scientists better understand the external appearance of the brain in relation to its internal activity . "Our research shows that if a part of the brain does not grow properly, or if the geometry is broken, we may not have large wrinkles in the right place, thereby causing the Potential dysfunction " , Chung shared.