Journal of neurotrauma
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Journal of neurotrauma · Nov 2022
Effects of isolated and combined exposure of the brain and lungs to a laser-induced shock wave(s) on physiological and neurological responses in rats.
Blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) has been suggested to be caused by direct head exposure and by torso exposure to a shock wave (thoracic hypotheses). It is unclear, however, how torso exposure affects the brain in real time. This study applied a mild-impulse laser-induced shock wave(s) (LISW[s]) only to the brain (Group 1), lungs (Group 2), or to the brain and lungs (Group 3) in rats. ⋯ Alternatively, two groups of rats with lung exposure (Group 2 and Group 3) exhibited continuously aggravated motor functions for up to seven days post-exposure, suggesting different mechanisms for motor dysfunction caused by brain exposure and that caused by lung exposure. As for the reported thoracic hypotheses, our observations seem to support the volumetric blood surge and vagovagal reflex. Overall, the results of this study indicate the importance of the torso guard to protect the brain and its function.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Nov 2022
Review Meta AnalysisMagnetic resonance spectroscopy of traumatic brain injury and subconcussive hits: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is a non-invasive technique used to study metabolites in the brain. MRS findings in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and subconcussive hit literature have been mixed. The most common observation is a decrease in N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), traditionally considered a marker of neuronal integrity. ⋯ NAA was consistently decreased in TBI of all severities, but not in subconcussive hits. Cho and mI were found to be increased in moderate-to-severe TBI but not in mild TBI. Glx and Cr were largely unaffected, but did show alterations in certain conditions.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Nov 2022
ReviewCerebral Autoregulation Monitoring in Traumatic Brain Injury: An Overview of Recent Advances in Personalized Medicine.
Impaired cerebral autoregulation (CA) in moderate/severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been identified as a strong associate with poor long-term outcomes, with recent data highlighting its dominance over cerebral physiological dysfunction seen in the acute phase post-injury. With advances in bedside continuous cerebral physiological signal processing, continuously derived metrics of CA capacity have been described over the past two decades, leading to improvements in cerebral physiological insult detection and development of novel personalized approaches to TBI care in the intensive care unit (ICU). ⋯ The CA-based personalized targets, such as optimal cerebral perfusion pressure (CPPopt), lower/upper limit of regulation (LLR/ULR), and individualized intracranial pressure (iICP) are positioned to change the way we care for patients with TBI in the ICU, moving away from the "one treatment fits all" paradigm of current guideline-based therapeutic approaches toward a true personalized medicine approach tailored to the individual patient. Future perspectives regarding research needs in this field are also discussed.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Nov 2022
Effects of White-Matter Tract Length in Sport-Related Concussion: A Tractography Study from the NCAA-DoD CARE Consortium.
Sport-related concussion (SRC) is an important public health issue. White-matter alterations after SRC are widely studied by neuroimaging approaches, such as diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Although the exact anatomical location of the alterations may differ, significant white-matter alterations are commonly observed in long fiber tracts, but are never proven. ⋯ The affected white-matter tracts had a high streamline count at length of 80-100 mm and high length-adjusted affected ratio for streamline length longer than 80 mm. DTI mean diffusivity was higher in the affected streamlines longer than 100 mm with significant associations with the Brief Symptom Inventory score. Our findings suggest that long fibers in the brains of collegiate athletes are more vulnerable to acute SRC with higher mean diffusivity and a higher affected ratio compared with the whole distribution.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Nov 2022
The impact of high fat consumption on neurological functions following a traumatic brain injury in rats.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and obesity are two common conditions in modern society; both can impair neuronal integrity and neurological function. However, it is unclear whether the coexistence of both conditions will worsen outcomes. Therefore, in a rat model, we aimed to investigate whether the coexistence of TBI and a high-fat diet (HFD) has an additive effect, leading to more severe neurological impairments, and whether they are related to changes in brain protein markers of oxidative stress, inflammation, and synaptic plasticity. ⋯ In rats without TBI, HFD increased the pre-synaptic protein synaptophysin. In rats with TBI, HFD resulted in worsened sensory and memory function, an increase in activated macrophages, and a decrease in the endogenous antioxidant manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD). Our findings suggest that the additive effect of HFD and TBI worsens short term memory and sensation deficits, and may be driven by enhanced oxidative stress and inflammation.