TY - JOUR
T1 - Blast overpressure induces shear-related injuries in the brain of rats exposed to a mild traumatic brain injury
AU - Sosa, Miguel A.Gama
AU - De Gasperi, Rita
AU - Paulino, Alejandro J.
AU - Pricop, Paul E.
AU - Shaughness, Michael C.
AU - Maudlin-Jeronimo, Eric
AU - Hall, Aaron A.
AU - Janssen, William G.M.
AU - Yuk, Frank J.
AU - Dorr, Nathan P.
AU - Dickstein, Dara L.
AU - McCarron, Richard M.
AU - Chavko, Mikulas
AU - Hof, Patrick R.
AU - Ahlers, Stephen T.
AU - Elder, Gregory A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2013 Gama Sosa et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
PY - 2014/1/27
Y1 - 2014/1/27
N2 - Background: Blast-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been a significant cause of injury in the military operations of Iraq and Afghanistan, affecting as many as 10-20% of returning veterans. However, how blast waves affect the brain is poorly understood. To understand their effects, we analyzed the brains of rats exposed to single or multiple (three) 74.5 kPa blast exposures, conditions that mimic a mild TBI. Results: Rats were sacrificed 24 hours or between 4 and 10 months after exposure. Intraventricular hemorrhages were commonly observed after 24 hrs. A screen for neuropathology did not reveal any generalized histopathology. However, focal lesions resembling rips or tears in the tissue were found in many brains. These lesions disrupted cortical organization resulting in some cases in unusual tissue realignments. The lesions frequently appeared to follow the lines of penetrating cortical vessels and microhemorrhages were found within some but not most acute lesions. Conclusions: These lesions likely represent a type of shear injury that is unique to blast trauma. The observation that lesions often appeared to follow penetrating cortical vessels suggests a vascular mechanism of injury and that blood vessels may represent the fault lines along which the most damaging effect of the blast pressure is transmitted.
AB - Background: Blast-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been a significant cause of injury in the military operations of Iraq and Afghanistan, affecting as many as 10-20% of returning veterans. However, how blast waves affect the brain is poorly understood. To understand their effects, we analyzed the brains of rats exposed to single or multiple (three) 74.5 kPa blast exposures, conditions that mimic a mild TBI. Results: Rats were sacrificed 24 hours or between 4 and 10 months after exposure. Intraventricular hemorrhages were commonly observed after 24 hrs. A screen for neuropathology did not reveal any generalized histopathology. However, focal lesions resembling rips or tears in the tissue were found in many brains. These lesions disrupted cortical organization resulting in some cases in unusual tissue realignments. The lesions frequently appeared to follow the lines of penetrating cortical vessels and microhemorrhages were found within some but not most acute lesions. Conclusions: These lesions likely represent a type of shear injury that is unique to blast trauma. The observation that lesions often appeared to follow penetrating cortical vessels suggests a vascular mechanism of injury and that blood vessels may represent the fault lines along which the most damaging effect of the blast pressure is transmitted.
KW - Blast overpressure injury
KW - Neuropathology
KW - Shear injury
KW - Traumatic brain injury
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85005765072&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/2051-5960-1-51
DO - 10.1186/2051-5960-1-51
M3 - Article
C2 - 24252601
AN - SCOPUS:85005765072
SN - 2051-5960
VL - 2
JO - Acta Neuropathologica Communications
JF - Acta Neuropathologica Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 51
ER -