Linking Mechanical Memory to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)-Induced Persistent Hippocampus Dysfunction
Year: 2026
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Traumatic brain injury (TBI), caused by falls and blast exposure, rapidly deforms and stretches brain tissue, including the hippocampus, which is involved in memory formation and spatial learning. Mechanical forces are generated within milliseconds of injury; however, long-term consequences suggest that injury induces persistent alterations in the hippocampus. Advances in mechanobiology have revealed that cells remember past mechanical experience, called “mechanical memory,” in which prior mechanical experiences continue to influence cellular behavior even after the original stimulus is removed. In this chapter, we propose that TBI may induce mechanical memory in hippocampal cells through both the initial mechanical insult and subsequent secondary changes in the hippocampus such as altered tissue stiffness, shear, compression, and extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling. We hypothesize that this mechanical memory contributes to the persistence of cellular dysfunction, including neuroinflammation, cellular senescence, impaired neurogenesis, resulting in progressive cognitive and memory deficits. Although direct evidence linking TBI to mechanical memory is currently lacking, mechanotransduction pathways are known to be activated during brain injury, and epigenetic alterations, a key mechanism of mechanical memory, are well documented after TBI. We review existing evidence on mechanical forces in the hippocampus and explore whether targeting mechanical memory could represent a novel therapeutic strategy for mitigating the long-term neurological consequences of TBI.
Source: IntechOpen eBooks
Authors: Sanjay Kumar Kureel, Namita
Language: English
Subfield: Cell Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7214677449