Investigation of Microcavitation in 3D in-vitro and ex-vivo Models of Blast Traumatic Brain Injury
Abstract
Cavitation, the formation and collapse of vapor bubbles inside a liquid medium, is one of the most powerful and devastating damage mechanisms that exist in the world. While cavitation damage has been studied in detail for engineering application, there is recent emerging evidence that cavitation occurs in the human brain during blast-induced trauma. However, the molecular mechanism and the structural damage features of cavitation at the cellular level are poorlyunderstood. Yet this information is critically important, since the clinical effects of TBI initiate in signaling cascades at the single cell level.This proposal details a unique and innovative design and execution of a series of quantitative experiments to investigate the dynamic interaction of cavitation bubbles with cortical neurons, astrocytes and microglia in two physiologically-realistic, three-dimensional (3D) in-vitro and one ex-vivo environments. The overarching goal of the proposal is to detail the exact pathology of neural injury due to microcavitation as might occur during blast exposures. Questions whetherblast related cavitation brain injury shares structural pathology signs similar to mild traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy will be investigated and answered.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 27, 2018
- Source ID
- N000141812630
Entities
People
- Christian Franck
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Wisconsin System