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Traumatic brain injury

Brain trauma in military veterans

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 13, pages 450–451 (2012)Cite this article

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The authors examined post-mortem brains from four military veterans with a history of blast exposure and/or concussion and compared them with brains from four athletes who had had multiple concussion injuries, and with brains from four control subjects. The veterans' brains showed tau pathology in several cortical regions and, immediately below these regions, axon dystrophy and degeneration as well as clusters of activated microglia (a sign of neuroinflammation). These changes were similar to those found in the brains of the four athletes and in previously reported cases of CTE, suggesting that blast-induced TBI and CTE may have similar biomechanical causes and pathophysiological mechanisms.

To explore the link between blast exposure, neuropathology and its consequences on brain function, the authors developed a mouse model of blast neurotrauma. The mice were exposed to a single non-lethal experimental blast that was comparable in intensity to a common improvised explosive device associated with military blast injury. Analysis of high-speed videographic images showed that the blast caused rapid acceleration–deceleration oscillatory movements of the head for about 8 ms.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Goldstein, L. E. et al. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy in blast-exposed military veterans and a blast neurotrauma mouse model. Sci. Transl. Med. 4, 134ra60 (2012)Article

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Authors
  1. Leonie Welberg
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Welberg, L. Brain trauma in military veterans. Nat Rev Neurosci 13, 450–451 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3277

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