The same type of brain damage identified in 14 deceasedprofessional football players has been pinpointed in the brains ofmilitary veterans who endured bomb blasts in Iraq and Afghanistancommonly encountered in battle -- a finding that raises concernsthat countless other military personnel may be vulnerable tosimilar long-term impairments. An international team of researchers led by Boston scientists saidin a study published Wednesday that they discovered chronictraumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in the brains of four veteransafter their deaths, including three who had survived explosionsfrom improvised explosive devices. The fourth had suffered multipleconcussions in and out of the military. The study was small and the findings need to be verified by otherscientists, but specialists in combat trauma said the results areintriguing. The encephalopathy, identified during autopsies by a build-up ofabnormal protein deposits in the brain, is a degenerative diseaselinked to repeated head traumas such as concussions.
It wasidentified in the brain of former Chicago Bears safety Dave Duersonafter his suicide last year, and is suspected in the suicideearlier this month of former Patriots linebacker Junior Seau. The disease has symptoms, such as depression, aggression, memoryloss, and ultimately dementia, common with other traumatic braininjuries and also includes post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD,which has been diagnosed in thousands of vets from Afghanistan andIraq. Resarchers said it"s possible that some of the symptomsof PTSD in veterans may be caused by CTE. "There will be some with PTSD that have [encephalopathy] butwe don"t know what percentage that may be," said Dr.Ann McKee, a professor at Boston University School of Medicine anddirector of the Neuropathology Service for VA New EnglandHealthcare System. McKee, a senior co-author of the study published online in ScienceTranslational Medicine, also is a member of the BU team that hasidentified CTE in more than 50 former athletes, includingprofessional, college, and high school football players,professional wrestlers, and boxers.
In addition to identifying CTE in the brain tissue of four maleveterans, aged 22 to 45, the researchers recreated an explosion intheir lab that would be comparable to a blast typically encounteredin battle, and studied the effect on mice. "We wanted to know whether exposure to a single blast wouldresult in the same types of injuries that [McKee] was seeing yearslater in US military veterans," said senior co-author Dr. LeeGoldstein, an associate professor at the BU School of Medicine andCollege of Engineering. "The answer is yes, indeed." Lee said all of the mice appeared to be healthy and looked normalafter the blast, but within weeks displayed learning and memoryproblems in finding their way in a maze, and their brains showedevidence of the abnormal proteins identified in people with CTE. The researchers found that the blast appeared to have permanentlydamaged the mice brain cells" ability to communicate witheach other. Shipyard Cranes
Blast winds from battle field explosions can exceed 300mph, a force that whips a person"s head around like abobblehead doll, and is suspected by the scientists as the sparkthat ignites a cascade of destruction in the brain that ultimatelymay develop into CTE. The researchers said that when they immobilized the head and neckof mice during the blast, the animals did not display learning andmemory problems, a finding that suggests better gear can bedeveloped to protect soldiers from traumatic brain injuries. "The whole point of our work is to make lives better forveterans who suffer this injury," McKee said. Cynthia Smith, a US Department of Defense spokeswoman, said in ane-mailed statement that the agency is working to develop "thenext generation of protective equipment to mitigate the effects ofblast and other events that may lead to a [traumatic braininjury]." She said the department in the past three years has startedprograms to improve detection and treatment for service memberswith signs of brain injury, and is also funding studies to findbetter treatments. Launching Gantry Crane
Scientists not involved with the CTE study said that findings inmice may not translate the same to humans and that much moreresearch needs to be done. "This is a new area and we just don"t understand theconnection yet -- if there is a connection -- between [traumaticbrain injury] and CTE, said Stuart Hoffman, who oversees traumaticbrain injury research at the US Department of Veterans Affairs. As for the thousands of veterans already diagnosed with PTSD,Hoffman said the agency is concerned about a possible link betweenthat illness and CTE. "That has been the 10 million dollar question that the VA hasbeen focusing on since 2008," Hoffman said. Single Girder Overhead Cranes Manufacturer
"But thereis no way for us to detect CTE in a living person now." David Hovda, director of the Brain Injury Research Center at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, said the blast experimentswith mice will help other researchers unravel many remainingmysteries behind traumatic brain injuries. "This is an important first step in trying to define whatthis problem is and that it"s not limited to the NFL, butalso a problem in the military," Hovda said. Try BostonGlobe.com today and get two weeks FREE. Kay Lazar can be reached at klazar@globe.com.
Follow her on Twitter@GlobeKayLazar.
It wasidentified in the brain of former Chicago Bears safety Dave Duersonafter his suicide last year, and is suspected in the suicideearlier this month of former Patriots linebacker Junior Seau. The disease has symptoms, such as depression, aggression, memoryloss, and ultimately dementia, common with other traumatic braininjuries and also includes post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD,which has been diagnosed in thousands of vets from Afghanistan andIraq. Resarchers said it"s possible that some of the symptomsof PTSD in veterans may be caused by CTE. "There will be some with PTSD that have [encephalopathy] butwe don"t know what percentage that may be," said Dr.Ann McKee, a professor at Boston University School of Medicine anddirector of the Neuropathology Service for VA New EnglandHealthcare System. McKee, a senior co-author of the study published online in ScienceTranslational Medicine, also is a member of the BU team that hasidentified CTE in more than 50 former athletes, includingprofessional, college, and high school football players,professional wrestlers, and boxers.
In addition to identifying CTE in the brain tissue of four maleveterans, aged 22 to 45, the researchers recreated an explosion intheir lab that would be comparable to a blast typically encounteredin battle, and studied the effect on mice. "We wanted to know whether exposure to a single blast wouldresult in the same types of injuries that [McKee] was seeing yearslater in US military veterans," said senior co-author Dr. LeeGoldstein, an associate professor at the BU School of Medicine andCollege of Engineering. "The answer is yes, indeed." Lee said all of the mice appeared to be healthy and looked normalafter the blast, but within weeks displayed learning and memoryproblems in finding their way in a maze, and their brains showedevidence of the abnormal proteins identified in people with CTE. The researchers found that the blast appeared to have permanentlydamaged the mice brain cells" ability to communicate witheach other. Shipyard Cranes
Blast winds from battle field explosions can exceed 300mph, a force that whips a person"s head around like abobblehead doll, and is suspected by the scientists as the sparkthat ignites a cascade of destruction in the brain that ultimatelymay develop into CTE. The researchers said that when they immobilized the head and neckof mice during the blast, the animals did not display learning andmemory problems, a finding that suggests better gear can bedeveloped to protect soldiers from traumatic brain injuries. "The whole point of our work is to make lives better forveterans who suffer this injury," McKee said. Cynthia Smith, a US Department of Defense spokeswoman, said in ane-mailed statement that the agency is working to develop "thenext generation of protective equipment to mitigate the effects ofblast and other events that may lead to a [traumatic braininjury]." She said the department in the past three years has startedprograms to improve detection and treatment for service memberswith signs of brain injury, and is also funding studies to findbetter treatments. Launching Gantry Crane
Scientists not involved with the CTE study said that findings inmice may not translate the same to humans and that much moreresearch needs to be done. "This is a new area and we just don"t understand theconnection yet -- if there is a connection -- between [traumaticbrain injury] and CTE, said Stuart Hoffman, who oversees traumaticbrain injury research at the US Department of Veterans Affairs. As for the thousands of veterans already diagnosed with PTSD,Hoffman said the agency is concerned about a possible link betweenthat illness and CTE. "That has been the 10 million dollar question that the VA hasbeen focusing on since 2008," Hoffman said. Single Girder Overhead Cranes Manufacturer
"But thereis no way for us to detect CTE in a living person now." David Hovda, director of the Brain Injury Research Center at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, said the blast experimentswith mice will help other researchers unravel many remainingmysteries behind traumatic brain injuries. "This is an important first step in trying to define whatthis problem is and that it"s not limited to the NFL, butalso a problem in the military," Hovda said. Try BostonGlobe.com today and get two weeks FREE. Kay Lazar can be reached at klazar@globe.com.
Follow her on Twitter@GlobeKayLazar.
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