According to a new study by scientists from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, mild traumatic brain injury following exposure to an explosive blast creates the kinds of harbingers of memory problems often found in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
There is a much greater focuis on so-called blast-induced traumatic brain injury (TBI) in combat care than ever before, according to senior investigator Patrick Kochanek, M.D., professor and vice chair of critical care medicine and director of the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research at the University of Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, conventional imaging technology fails to give up any biomarkers for mild TBI.
Our research reveals that despite the lack of a lot of obvious neuronal death, there is a lot of molecular madness going on in the brain after a blast exposure. Even subtle injuries resulted in significant alterations of brain chemistry.
In order to reach these conclusions, the team developed a mouse model to determine whether blasts led to any changes in the brain. Using a blast tube, they then tested the brain tissue of the mice twice. What they found was that gene activity patterns looked a lot like those seen in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. They also found elevated levels of oxidative stress and inflammation.
Added Dr. Kochanek:
It appears that although the neurons don't die after a mild injury, they do sustain damage. It remains to be seen what multiple exposures, meaning repeat concussions, do to the brain over the long term.
Their findings have been published online in the Journal of Neurotrauma.
Source: MNT
