It's about damn time. What exactly am I talking about? Science Direct's February medical journal on Neurobiology of Disease was released just a few days ago (February 1) and within the journal was a whole section dedicated to....:
Neuroinflammation and brain atrophy in former NFL players: An in vivo multimodal imaging pilot study
This is HUGE news. When football is easily being transported into the medicine world than you know a heightened awareness is surrounding the entire medical field. Most medical journals are very structured and only those with a very sophisticated knowledge in medicine can take interest and understand what is being discussed. So this article within the journal is a breath of fresh air.
Here are some of the highlights gleaned out from the article:
Former NFL players were imaged with positron emission tomography (PET) to study a marker of neuroinflammation.
Several brain regions showed signs of neuroinflammation in former NFL players.
Hippocampal atrophy was also observed on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the same players.
If interested, here is the entire abstract which is easy to follow and provides a greater insight into the topic:
Abstract
There are growing concerns about potential delayed, neuropsychiatric consequences (e.g, cognitive decline, mood or anxiety disorders) of sports-related traumatic brain injury (TBI). Autopsy studies of brains from a limited number of former athletes have described characteristic, pathologic changes of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) leading to questions about the relationship between these pathologic and the neuropsychiatric disturbances seen in former athletes. Research in this area will depend on in vivomethods that characterize molecular changes in the brain, linking CTE and other sports-related pathologies with delayed emergence of neuropsychiatric symptoms. In this pilot project we studied former National Football League (NFL) players using new neuroimaging techniques and clinical measures of cognitive functioning. We hypothesized that former NFL players would show molecular and structural changes in medial temporal and parietal lobe structures as well as specific cognitive deficits, namely those of verbal learning and memory. We observed a significant increase in binding of [11C]DPA-713 to the translocator protein (TSPO), a marker of brain injury and repair, in several brain regions, such as the supramarginal gyrus and right amygdala, in 9 former NFL players compared to 9 age-matched, healthy controls. We also observed significant atrophy of the right hippocampus. Finally, we report that these same former players had varied performance on a test of verbal learning and memory, suggesting that these molecular and pathologic changes may play a role in cognitive decline. These results suggest that localized brain injury and repair, indicated by increased [11C]DPA-713 binding to TSPO, may be linked to history of NFL play. [11C]DPA-713 PET is a promising new tool that can be used in future study design to examine further the relationship between TSPO expression in brain injury and repair, selective regional brain atrophy, and the potential link to deficits in verbal learning and memory after NFL play.
This is thesis class so you won't see my discussing colleges like some of my fellow classmates would do (throwing some shade, all in good fun), but Johns Hopkins must come up in my research because a Johns Hopkins study of retired NFL players has shed new light on concussion related brain damage, and, to no surprise, the research provides further evidence of potential long-term neurological risks to football players who sustain repeated head injuries.
Jennifer Coughlin is an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral studies at JHU and she states:
"That may mean individuals are able to make more educated decisions about whether they're susceptible to brain injury, advise how helmets are structured, or inform guidelines for the game to better protect players."
.^ Once again, the basis of my entire thesis project.
Links for next class: http://www.ted.com/talks/kim_gorgens_protecting_the_brain_against_concussion
http://keranews.org/post/players-and-families-talk-nprs-michel-martin-about-footballs-ups-and-downs
Links for next class: http://www.ted.com/talks/kim_gorgens_protecting_the_brain_against_concussion
http://keranews.org/post/players-and-families-talk-nprs-michel-martin-about-footballs-ups-and-downs
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