Pathological Fingerprints, Systems Biology and Biomarkers of Blast Brain Injury

Abstract

A comprehensive experimental model of controlled overpressure brain impact in rats is presented. Repeatable blast signatures of controlled duration, peak pressure and transmitted impulse enable to reproduce blast impact in laboratory animals in accurate fashion. Animal survival, brain pathomorphology and the expression of GFAP and CNPase after head-directed nonpenetrating blast of 358 kPa magnitude at surface for approximately 10 msec. The high speed imaging demonstrated strong head acceleration/jolting accompanied by typical intracranial hematomas and brain swelling. The microscopic injury was revealed by prominent silver staining in the deep brain areas including nucleus subthalamicus zone suggesting both diffused and focal neurodegeneration. GFAP and CNPase, markers of astroglia and oligodendroglia, respectively, accumulated substantially in hippocampus 24 h after blast and persisted for 30 days post-blast.We propose that following blast overpressure brain impact, critical pathological signatures of blast brain injury may be triggered by complex cerebrovascular responses, including blood brain barrier disruption, glia activation and neuronal alterations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA504859

Entities

People

  • Stanislav Svetlov

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Animals
  • Biological Markers
  • Biological Staining And Labeling
  • Blast Waves
  • Blood
  • Blood-Brain Barrier
  • Brain
  • Brain Injuries
  • Cerebral Edema
  • Computational Biology
  • Hematomas
  • Laboratory Animals
  • Neurodegeneration
  • Neuroglia
  • Overpressure
  • Systems Biology
  • Two Dimensional

Readers

  • Explosive Engineering.
  • Neuroscience
  • Oncology and Biomarker-Based Cancer Detection.