Mechanical stretch to neurons results in a strain rate and magnitude-dependent increase in plasma membrane permeability.

The mechanism by which mechanical impact to brain tissue is transduced to neuronal impairment remains poorly understood. Using an in vitro model of neuronal stretch, we found that mechanical stretch of neurons resulted in a transient plasma membrane permeability increase. Primary cortical neurons, seeded on silicone substrates, were subjected to a defined rate and magnitude strain pulse by stretching the substrates over a fixed cylindrical form. To identify plasma membrane defects, various sized fluorescent molecules were added to the bathing media either immediately before injury or 1, 2, 5, or 10 min after injury and removed one minute later. The percent of cells that took up dye depended on the applied strain rate, strain magnitude and molecular size. Severe stretch (10 sec(-1), 0.30) resulted in significant uptake of all tested molecules (ranging between 0.5 and 8.9 nm radii) with up to 60% of cells positively stained. Furthermore, the neurons remained permeable to the smallest molecule (carboxyfluorescein, 380 Da) up to 5 min after severe stretch but were only permeable to larger molecules (>/=10 kDa) immediately after stretch. These transiently formed membrane defects may be the initiating mechanism that translates mechanical stretch to cellular dysfunction.