Abstract
Microneedle‐based access to plant phloem enables sustainable energy harvesting and in situ biochemical sensing, but its performance is limited by defense responses such as callose deposition triggered by mechanical overstimulation of cell walls. This study presents a combined numerical–experimental framework for investigation how microneedle penetration dynamics influence transient stress fields within plant cellular tissue. A 3D finite element model of tomato stem tissue was reconstructed from SEM data, incorporating elastic–plastic cell walls, compressible intracellular fluid, and an augmented‐Lagrangian contact to simulate cell‐wall rupture and middle‐lamella delamination. Simulations reveal that lower insertion velocities significantly reduce stress transients and localize stress propagation, favoring single‐cell failure over multicell delamination. This effect results from a reduced rate of energy transfer into the tissue during insertion, limiting elastic energy accumulation and mechanical loading of mechanosensory pathways associated with callose secretion. Microneedle prototypes were fabricated and tested on tomato stems. Despite the quasistatic experimental velocities, displacement‐based comparison showed good agreement with numerical predictions. Both approaches confirmed that slower penetration shifts energy partitioning toward elastic storage and rheological dissipation. Overall, the developed mesoscale FEM framework reliably captures microneedle–tissue interactions and provides a transferable tool for optimizing minimally disruptive microneedle insertion strategies.
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Claims 5
Claim · model-written summary
Lower microneedle insertion velocities significantly reduce stress transients in tomato stem tissue.
- Taxon
- tomato
Solanum lycopersicume0 - Treatment
- lower insertion velocitiese1
- Outcome
- stress transientse1
- Direction
- reducee1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“A 3D finite element model of tomato stem tissue was reconstructed from SEM data”
e1“lower insertion velocities significantly reduce stress transients and localize stress propagation”
Claim · model-written summary
Lower microneedle insertion velocities localize stress propagation in tomato stem tissue.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicume0
- Treatment
- lower insertion velocitiese1
- Outcome
- stress propagatione1
- Direction
- localizee1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“A 3D finite element model of tomato stem tissue was reconstructed from SEM data”
e1“lower insertion velocities significantly reduce stress transients and localize stress propagation”
Claim · model-written summary
Lower insertion velocity reduces stress transients through a reduced rate of energy transfer into the tissue.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicume0
- Outcome
- stress transientse1
- Qualifier
- reduced rate of energy transfer into the tissue during insertione2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“A 3D finite element model of tomato stem tissue was reconstructed from SEM data”
e1“lower insertion velocities significantly reduce stress transients and localize stress propagation”
e2“This effect results from a reduced rate of energy transfer into the tissue during insertion, limiting elastic energy accumulation and mechanical loading of mechanosensory pathways associated with callose secretion”
Claim · model-written summary
Slower penetration shifts energy partitioning in tomato stem tissue toward elastic storage and rheological dissipation.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicume0
- Treatment
- slower penetratione3
- Outcome
- energy partitioninge3
- Direction
- shiftse3
- Qualifier
- toward elastic storage and rheological dissipatione3
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“A 3D finite element model of tomato stem tissue was reconstructed from SEM data”
e3“slower penetration shifts energy partitioning toward elastic storage and rheological dissipation”
Claim · model-written summary
The displacement-based comparison of the microneedle insertion tests on tomato stems showed good agreement with the numerical predictions.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicume4
- Outcome
- agreement with numerical predictionse5
- Comparator
- numerical predictionse5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e4“Microneedle prototypes were fabricated and tested on tomato stems”
e5“showed good agreement with numerical predictions”