Articles: traumatic-brain-injuries.
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Local and systemic inflammatory responses are initiated early after traumatic brain injury (TBI), and may play a key role in the secondary injury processes resulting in neuronal loss and neurological deficits. However, the mechanisms responsible for the rapid expansion of neuroinflammation and its long-term progression have yet to be elucidated. Here, we investigate the role of microparticles (MP), a member of the extracellular vesicle family, in the exchange of pro-inflammatory molecules between brain immune cells, as well as their transfer to the systemic circulation, as key pathways of inflammation propagation following brain trauma. ⋯ These data provide further insights into the mechanisms underlying the development and dissemination of neuroinflammation after TBI. MP loaded with pro-inflammatory molecules initially released by microglia following trauma can activate additional microglia that may contribute to progressive neuroinflammatory response in the injured brain, as well as stimulate systemic immune responses. Due to their ability to independently initiate inflammatory responses, MP derived from activated microglia may provide a potential therapeutic target for other neurological disorders in which neuroinflammation may be a contributing factor.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Mar 2017
ReviewHelmet efficacy against concussion and traumatic brain injury: a review.
Helmets are one of the earliest and most enduring methods of personal protection in human civilization. Although primarily developed for combat purposes in ancient times, modern helmets have become highly diversified to sports, recreation, and transportation. History and the scientific literature exhibit that helmets continue to be the primary and most effective prevention method against traumatic brain injury (TBI), which presents high mortality and morbidity rates in the US. ⋯ The objective of this literature review was to explore the historical evolution of helmets, consider the effectiveness of helmets in protecting against severe intracranial injuries, and examine recent evidence on helmet efficacy against concussion. It was also the goal of this report to emphasize the need for more research on helmet efficacy with improved experimental design and quantitative standardization of assessments for concussion and TBI, and to promote expanded involvement of neurosurgery in studying the quantitative diagnostics of concussion and TBI. Recent evidence summarized by this literature review suggests that helmeted patients do not have better relative clinical outcome and protection against concussion than unhelmeted patients.
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Sports participation is one of the leading causes of concussions among nearly 8 million US high school student-athletes. ⋯ Our findings provide updated high school SRC incidence estimates and further evidence of sex differences in reported SRCs. Few athletes with SRCs returned to play within 24 hours or a week. Most injured players returned after 7 days, despite a smaller proportion having symptoms resolve within a week.
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Increased sport participation and sport-related concussion incidence has led to an emphasis on having an appropriate medical professional available to high school athletes. The medical professional best suited to provide medical care to high school athletes is a certified athletic trainer (AT). Access to an AT may influence the reporting of sport-related concussion in the high school athletic population; however, little is known about how the presence of an AT affects concussion knowledge, prevention, and recognition. ⋯ High school athletes with access to an AT had more concussion knowledge, but they did not report suspected concussions to an authority figure more frequently than athletes without access to an AT.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Mar 2017
Primary blast injury depressed hippocampal long-term potentiation through disruption of synaptic proteins.
Blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) is a major threat to United States service members in military conflicts worldwide. The effects of primary blast, caused by the supersonic shockwave interacting with the skull and brain, remain unclear. Our group has previously reported that in vitro primary blast exposure can reduce long-term potentiation (LTP), the electrophysiological correlate of learning and memory, in rat organotypic hippocampal slice cultures (OHSCs) without significant changes to cell viability or basal, evoked neuronal function. ⋯ Blast also reduced the expression of postsynaptic density protein-95 (PSD-95) and phosphorylation of stargazin protein at the serine-239/240 site. Finally, we found that modulation of the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) pathway ameliorated electrophysiological and protein-expression changes caused by blast. These findings could inform the development of novel therapies to treat blast-induced loss of neuronal function.