Brain Injury: Neuro-Inflammation, Cognitive Deficit, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging in a Model of Blast Induced Traumatic Brain Injury

Blast wave-induced traumatic injury from terrorist explosive devices can occur at any time in either military or civilian environments. To date, little work has focused on the central nervous system response to a non-penetrating blast injury. We have evaluated the effect of a single 80-psi blast-overpressure wave in a rat model. Histological and immunochemical studies showed an early inflammatory response, tissue damage and the initiation of apoptosis. With regard to inflammation, polymorphonuclear leukocytes and lymphocytes infiltrated brain parenchyma within 1h post-blast. Glial-fibrillary protein, cyclo-oxygenase-2ir, interleukin-1 and tumor necrosis factor were present by 1h and remained detectable at three weeks post-injury. High mobility group box-1 protein was detectable at three weeks. With regard to tissue damage, S100 and 4-hydroxynonenal were present at 1h and remained detectable at three weeks. Amyloid precursor protein was detectable at three weeks. As for apoptosis, Cleaved Caspase-3 was detectable at three weeks. Morris water maze assessment of cognitive function showed that blast injured animals required significantly more time to reach the platform on day 1 of training and traveled a greater distance to get to the platform on days 1 and 2. Blast-injured animals showed a significant increase in swimming speed (p<0.001), increased total distance traveled (p<0.001) and increased number of entries into the previous quadrant that had contained the escape platform (p<0.05). Magnetic resonance imaging showed hyperintense regions in the somatosensory area within 1h. T2 relaxation times and apparent diffusion coefficients show increasing trends in both somatosensory and cortical regions. These data indicate an early and lasting response of brain tissue to non-penetrating blast over-pressure injury. This early inflammatory response is indicative of a mild traumatic brain injury. There is evidence of early hippocampal dysfunction.