AUGUSTA, Ga. Scientists have watched a mild traumatic brain injury play out in the living brain, prompting swelling that reduces blood flow and connections between neurons to die.
"Even with a mild trauma, we found we still have these ischemic blood vessels and, if blood flow is not returned to normal, synapses start to die," said Dr. Sergei Kirov, neuroscientist and Director of the Human Brain Lab at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University.
They also found that subsequent waves of depolarization when brain cells lose their normal positive and negative charge quickly and dramatically increase the losses.
Researchers hope the increased understanding of this secondary damage in the hours following an injury will point toward better therapy for the 1.7 million Americans annually experiencing traumatic brain injuries from falls, automobile accidents, sports, combat and the like. While strategies can minimize impact, no true neuroprotective drugs exist, likely because of inadequate understanding about how damage unfolds after the immediate impact.
Kirov is corresponding author of a study in the journal Brain describing the use of two-photon laser scanning microscopy to provide real-time viewing of submicroscopic neurons, their branches and more at the time of impact and in the following hours.
Scientists watched as astrocytes smaller cells that supply neurons with nutrients and help maintain normal electrical activity and blood flow in the vicinity of the injury swelled quickly and significantly. Each neuron is surrounded by several astrocytes that ballooned up about 25 percent, smothering the neurons and connective branches they once supported.
"We saw every branch, every small wire and how it gets cut," Kirov said. "We saw how it destroys networks. It really goes downhill. It's the first time we know of that someone has watched this type of minor injury play out over
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| Contact: Toni Baker tbaker@gru.edu 706-721-4421 Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University Source:Eurekalert |
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