TBITalk

Traumatic Brain Injury Healing Tips

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How to Prevent Neurons from Dying after Brain Injury

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Electrical stimulation of the brain by applying current to the eye may help retinal nerve cells to survive injury. While these neurons may not be restored to full function, they are prevented from dying. But to achieve survival, their interconnections, the dendritic tree, needs to disconnect rapidly for the protective action to unfold. In a study published in Scientific Reports, researchers from Magdeburg University (Germany) and The Chinese University of Hong Kong report that for rats and mice, repetitive transorbital alternating current stimulation (rtACS) may help preserve visual neurons from cell death after injury.

Because the tissue at the back of the eye, the retina, is part of the brain, researchers can directly observe how brain cells react in the living animal. The researchers repeatedly monitored neurons in both rat and mouse retinas after an optic nerve injury and measured neuronal death after this lesion. Surprisingly, a neuroprotective treatment with electrical alternating current stimulation increased cellular survival in the eye´s retina, but it also induced a fast and complete stripping-off of the neuron’s dendritic tree. The dendrites are like a tree receiving many thousands of signals from other neurons. This enables them to process visual information and then transmit the signals along the optic nerve towards the brain. By retracting its dendrites, the cell withdraws itself from this intercellular communication network and becomes silent — which helps its survival.

The test animals were divided into groups and subjected to both real and sham treatments. For the rats, optic nerve crush (ONC) was used to induce an injury in some of the animals to mimic glaucoma. Some animals and not others (sham) were treated with rtACS, resulting in three test groups: ONC/rtACS, ONC/Sham, and Sham/Sham. Using in vivo confocal neuroimaging (ICON) and measurements of Visual Evoked Potentials (VEP), the researchers could determine whether a neuron had survived and whether it was still functioning. The ONC and the first rtACS stimulation were done on day zero. ICON was performed on day 4, followed by rtACS or sham stimulation. On day 7 post ONC another ICON was performed.

For the mice, a confocal laser ophthalmoscope was used to image the dendritic structures of the retina for three groups of subjects, ONC/rtACS, ONC/Sham and Sham/rtACS. The mice received rtACS on days 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 after ONC and images were taken on days 3, 7 and 14.

According to lead author Petra Henrich-Noack, PhD, Institute of Medical Psychology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany, “With our experiments, we have detected so far unknown ‘silent survivor cells’ in the brain and it will be exciting to find out whether they later die or can be reactivated.” Surprisingly, neurons in the retina of animals that survived better when treated with rtACS lost their dendritic tree completely within the first 3 days after the lesion. The authors suggest that this early structural isolation might protect the neurons from the “toxic” excitation that is known to appear soon after brain damage.

 

 

Story Source:

Materials provided by Institute for Medical Psychology, Otto-v.-Guericke University Magdeburg. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

Petra Henrich-Noack, Elena G. Sergeeva, Torben Eber, Qing You, Nadine Voigt, Jürgen Köhler, Sebastian Wagner, Stefanie Lazik, Christian Mawrin, Guihua Xu, Sayantan Biswas, Bernhard A. Sabel, Christopher Kai-Shun Leung. Electrical brain stimulation induces dendritic stripping but improves survival of silent neurons after optic nerve damage. Scientific Reports, 2017; 7 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-00487-z

 

 

What is a Diffuse Axonal Injury? (DAI)

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“As tissue slides over tissue, a shearing injury occurs. This causes the lesions that are responsible for unconsciousness, as well as the vegetative state that occurs after a severe head injury. A diffuse axonal injury also causes brain cells to die, which cause swelling in the brain.”
DAI is characterized by axonal separation, in which the axon is torn at the site of stretch and the part distal to the tear degrades. While it was once thought that the main cause of axonal separation was tearing due to mechanical forces during the trauma, it is now understood that axons are not typically torn upon impact; rather, secondary biochemical cascades, which occur in response to the primary injury (which occurs as the result of mechanical forces at the moment of trauma) and take place hours to days after the initial injury, are largely responsible for the damage to axons.
Though the processes involved in secondary brain injury are still poorly understood, it is now accepted that stretching of axons during injury causes physical disruption to and proteolytic degradation of the cytoskeleton.[1] It also opens sodium channels in the axolemma, which causes voltage-gated calcium channels to open and Ca2+ to flow into the cell. The intracellular presence of Ca2+ unleashes several different pathways, including activating phospholipases and proteolytic enzymes, damaging mitochondria and the cytoskeleton, and activating secondary messengers, which can lead to separation of the axon and death of the cell.

Tips on How To Recover from a TBI

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Recovering from a Brain Injury could be a long and grueling process, especially if you do not have the information to better assist you to heal.  In this post, we go over how to help accelerate the healing of your brain.

Recover – Get a lot of rest around evening time, and rest amid the day.
Maintain a strategic distance from exercises that are physically requesting (e.g., substantial housecleaning, weightlifting/working-out) or require a considerable measure of fixation (e.g., adjusting your checkbook). They can exacerbate your manifestations and moderate your recuperation.

Stay away from exercises, for example, contact or recreational games, that could prompt to another blackout (it is best to maintain a strategic distance from fast entertainment mecca rides that can exacerbate your side effects or even cause a blackout).
At the point when your medicinal services proficient says you are alright, come back to your typical exercises bit by bit, not at the same time.
Since your capacity to respond might be slower after a blackout, ask your social insurance proficient when you can securely drive an auto, ride a bicycle, or work overwhelming gear.
Converse with your medicinal services proficient about when you can come back to work. Get some information about how you can help your boss comprehend what has transpired.
Consider chatting with your boss about coming back to work step by step and about changing your work exercises or timetable until you recoup (e.g., work half-days).
Take just those medications that your medicinal services proficient has endorsed.
Try not to drink mixed refreshments until your social insurance proficient says you are all around ok. Liquor and different medications may moderate your recuperation and put you at danger of further damage.
Record the things that might be harder than regular for you to recollect.
In case you’re effectively occupied, attempt to do one thing at any given moment. For instance, don’t attempt to sit in front of the TV while settling supper.
Counsel with relatives or dear companions when settling on essential choices.
Try not to disregard your fundamental needs, for example, eating great and getting enough rest.
Maintain a strategic distance from supported PC utilize, including PC/computer games ahead of schedule in the recuperation procedure.
A few people report that flying in planes aggravates their side effects soon after a blackout.

Diffuse Axonal Injury

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Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI) A  brain injury, in which damage is in the form of extensive lesions in white matter tracts occurs over a widespread area. DAI is one of the most prevalent and devastating types of traumatic brain injury, DAIs are a major cause of unconsciousness and most likely, leads to vegetative state after severe head trauma. The outcome is frequently a coma, with over 90% of patients with severe DAI never again, regaining consciousness. Those who do wake up often remain significantly impaired.

DAI can occur in every measure of severity from very mild or moderate to very severe

 

Diffuse axonal injury (DAI) is a brain injury in which damage in the form of extensive lesions in white matter tracts occurs over a widespread area. DAI is one of the most common and devastating types of traumatic brain injury,[1] and is a major cause of unconsciousness and persistent vegetative state after severe head trauma.[2] It occurs in about half of all cases of severe head trauma and may be the primary damage that occurs in concussion. The outcome is frequently coma, with over 90% of patients with severe DAI never regaining consciousness. Those who do wake up often remain significantly impaired.

 

  • DAI can occur in every degree of severity from very mild or moderate to very severe. Concussion may be a milder type of diffuse axonal injury.
  • Mechanism
  • Unlike brain trauma that occurs due to direct impact and deformation of the brain, DAI is the result of traumatic shearing forces that occur when the head is rapidly accelerated or decelerated, as may occur in car accidents, falls, and assaults.[5] It usually results from rotational forces or severe deceleration. Vehicle accidents are the most frequent cause of DAI; it can also occur as the result of child abuse[6] such as in shaken baby syndrome.
  • The major cause of damage in DAI is the disruption of axons, the neural processes that allow one neuron to communicate with another. Tracts of axons, which appear white due to myelination, are referred to as white matter. Acceleration causes shearing injury: damage inflicted as tissue slides over other tissue. When the brain is accelerated, parts of differing densities and distances from the axis of rotation slide over each other, stretching axons that traverse junctions between areas of different density, especially at junctions between white and grey matter. Two-thirds of DAI lesions occur in areas where grey and white matter meet.
  • Characteristics
  • Lesions typically exist in the white matter of brains injured by DAI; these lesions vary in size from about 1–15 mm and are distributed in a characteristic way. DAI most commonly affects white matter in areas including the brain stem, the corpus callosum, and the cerebral hemispheres.
  • The lobes of the brain most likely to be injured are the frontal and temporal lobes. Other common locations for DAI include the white matter in the cerebral cortex, the superior cerebral peduncles, basal ganglia, thalamus, and deep hemispheric nuclei. These areas may be more easily damaged because of the difference in density between them and the rest of the brain.
  • Histological characteristics
  • DAI is characterized by axonal separation, in which the axon is torn at the site of stretch and the part distal to the tear degrades. While it was once thought that the main cause of axonal separation was tearing due to mechanical forces during the trauma, it is now understood that axons are not typically torn upon impact; rather, secondary biochemical cascades, which occur in response to the primary injury (which occurs as the result of mechanical forces at the moment of trauma) and take place hours to days after the initial injury, are largely responsible for the damage to axons.
  • Though the processes involved in secondary brain injury are still poorly understood, it is now accepted that stretching of axons during injury causes physical disruption to and proteolytic degradation of the cytoskeleton.[1] It also opens sodium channels in the axolemma, which causes voltage-gated calcium channels to open and Ca2+ to flow into the cell.[1] The intracellular presence of Ca2+ unleashes several different pathways, including activating phospholipases and proteolytic enzymes, damaging mitochondria and the cytoskeleton, and activating secondary messengers, which can lead to separation of the axon and death of the cell.
  • Cytoskeleton disruption-
  • Immunoreactive axonal profiles are observed as either granular (B,G,H) or more elongated, fusiform (F) swellings in the corpus callosum and the brain stem (H) at 24h post traumatic brain injury. Example of APP-immunoreactive neurons (arrow heads) observed in the cortex underneath the impact site (E,G). No APP staining was observed in healthy control animals (D).
  • Axons are normally elastic, but when rapidly stretched they become brittle, and the axonal cytoskeleton can be broken. Misalignment of cytoskeletal elements after stretch injury can lead to tearing of the axon and death of the neuron. Axonal transport continues up to the point of the break in the cytoskeleton, but no further, leading to a buildup of transport products and local swelling at that point. When it becomes large enough, swelling can tear the axon at the site of the break in the cytoskeleton, causing it to draw back toward the cell body and form a bulb. This bulb is called a retraction ball, the hallmark of diffuse axonal injury.
  • When the axon is transected, Wallerian degeneration, in which the part of the axon distal to the break degrades, takes place within one to two days after injury. The axolemma disintegrates, myelin breaks down and begins to detach from cells in an anterograde direction (from the body of the cell toward the end of the axon),and nearby cells begin phagocytic activity, engulfing debris.
  • Calcium influx
  • While sometimes only the cytoskeleton is disturbed, frequently disruption of the axolemma occurs as well, causing the influx of Ca2+ into the cell and unleashing a variety of degrading processes. An increase in Ca2+ and Na+ levels and a drop in K+ levels is found within the axon directly after injury. Possible routes of Ca2+ entry include sodium channels, pores torn in the membrane during stretch, and failure of ATP-dependent transporters due to mechanical blockage or lack of energy. High levels of intracellular Ca2+, the major cause of post-injury cell damage, destroy mitochondria,and trigger phospholipases and proteolytic enzymes that damage Na+ channels and degrade or alter the cytoskeleton and the axoplasm. Excess Ca2+ can also lead to damage to the blood brain barrier and swelling of the brain.
  • One of the proteins activated by the presence of calcium in the cell is calpain, a Ca2+-dependent non-lysosomal protease. About 15 minutes to half an hour after the onset of injury, a process called calpain-mediated spectrin proteolysis, or CMSP, begins to occur.[19] Calpain breaks down a molecule called spectrin, which holds the membrane onto the cytoskeleton, causing the formation of blebs and the breakdown of the cytoskeleton and the membrane, and ultimately the death of the cell.[18][19] Other molecules that can be degraded by calpains are microtubule subunits, microtubule-associated proteins, and neurofilaments.
  • Generally occurring one to six hours into the process of post-stretch injury, the presence of calcium in the cell initiates the caspase cascade, a process in cell injury that usually leads to apoptosis, or “cell suicide”.
  • Mitochondria, dendrites, and parts of the cytoskeleton damaged in the injury have a limited ability to heal and regenerate, a process which occurs over 2 or more weeks. After the injury, astrocytes can shrink, causing parts of the brain to atrophy.
  • Diagnosis
  • Diffuse axonal injury after a motorcycle accident. MRI after 3 days: on T1-weighted images the injury is barely visible. On the FLAIR, DWI and T2* weighted images a small bleed is appreciated.
  • DAI is difficult to detect since it does not show up well on CT scans or with other macroscopic imaging techniques, though it shows up microscopically. However, there are characteristics typical of DAI that may or may not show up on a CT scan. Diffuse injury has more microscopic injury than macroscopic injury and is difficult to detect with CT and MRI, but its presence can be inferred when small bleeds are visible in the corpus callosum or the cerebral cortex. MRI is more useful than CT for detecting characteristics of diffuse axonal injury in the subacute and chronic time frames. Newer studies such as Diffusion Tensor Imaging are able to demonstrate the degree of white matter fiber tract injury even when the standard MRI is negative. Since axonal damage in DAI is largely a result of secondary biochemical cascades, it has a delayed onset, so a person with DAI who initially appears well may deteriorate later. Thus injury is frequently more severe than is realized, and medical professionals should suspect DAI in any patients whose CT scans appear normal but who have symptoms like unconsciousness.
  • MRI is more sensitive than CT scans, but MRI may also miss DAI, because it identifies the injury using signs of edema, which may not be present.
  • DAI is classified into grades based on severity of the injury. In Grade I, widespread axonal damage is present but no focal abnormalities are seen. In Grade II, damage found in Grade I is present in addition to focal abnormalities, especially in the corpus callosum. Grade III damage encompasses both Grades I and II plus rostral brain stem injury and often tears in the tissue.[23]
  • Treatment
  • DAI currently lacks a specific treatment beyond what is done for any type of head injury, including stabilizing the patient and trying to limit increases in intracranial pressure (ICP).
  • History
  • The idea of DAI first came about as a result of studies by Sabina Strich on lesions of the white matter of individuals who had suffered head trauma years before.[24] Strich first proposed the idea in 1956, calling it diffuse degeneration of white matter, however, the more concise term “Diffuse Axonal Injury” was eventually preferred. Strich was researching the relationship between dementia and head trauma and asserted in 1956 that DAI played an integral role in the eventual development of dementia due to head trauma. The term DAI was introduced in the early 1980s.

Myths & Facts About TBI

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There are numerous basic confusions or myths about cerebrum wounds among kids. Some of these myths were accepted to be valid before. Others are ‘clinical legend’ that has been passed starting with one educator, clinician or doctor then onto the next.

 

Myth 1: When an understudy looks great, they are completely recuperated.

Reality: The better an understudy looks, the harder it is to perceive their learning and intellectual needs. This is basic on the grounds that physical recuperation commonly precedes intellectual recuperation and occurs at a quicker rate. Frequently understudies are misidentified as having consideration or learning issues after their physical wounds have mended.

Myth 2: A mellow mind harm (blackout) is gentle and less harming than other cerebrum wounds.

Certainty: Although around 90% of individuals who have blackouts recuperate, this is not the situation for everybody. Blackout, whiplash and other “gentle” cerebrum wounds can have durable, incapacitating impacts that need intercession.

Myth 3: Younger people mend better – a youthful mind can recuperate itself, or the part that may have been harmed isn’t created yet.

Certainty: A more youthful mind is more powerless against harm in light of the fact that undeveloped parts develop from the beforehand harmed territories; this makes future improvement hard to foresee.

Myth 4: An understudy who tests in the ordinary range can learn new material well.

Truth: Evaluations regularly test already learned data, not how an understudy adapts new data. A superior expectation of an understudy’s capacity to learn new data is to educate new data and after that test for comprehension. Additionally consider the understudy’s capacity to screen out clamor and movement, which are constants in many classrooms.

Myth 5: Recovery will take ‘about’ a year.

Certainty: When a tyke has a cerebrum damage, the idea of recuperation might deceive. Recuperation ordinarily implies somebody has lost capacities briefly and will recapture them, for example, a broken arm. For a man with a cerebrum damage, despite the fact that they may look the same the progressions are in all likelihood durable and modification is a continuous procedure.

Myth 6: How rapidly a tyke recoups from a cerebrum damage depends predominantly on how hard they function at recuperating.

Actuality: No two youngsters with cerebrum wounds are indistinguishable and recuperation shifts broadly between kids with comparable wounds. It is uncalled for to an understudy to gain expectations or judgments about their ground.

Myth 7: If the cerebrum damage were truly extraordinary, the understudy would have been in the clinic for quite a while.

Certainty: Some youngsters with genuine mind wounds don’t have similar options accessible to them that grown-ups accomplish for recovery programs. School is the place most kids get restoration after a cerebrum harm.

“Kay T, Lezak M. (1990). The Nature of Head Injury. In D.W. Cothell , ed. Traumatic Brain Injury and Vocational Rehabilitation. (21-65). Monomonie, WI The Research and Training Center, University of Wisconsin-Stout,

Wedel Sellars, C. and Hill Vegter, C. (2008). The Young Child: Myths and Facts about Brain Injury. (2nd Ed.). Lash Associates.”

Adapted from:

Kay T Lezak M. (1990). The Nature of Head Injury. In D.W. Cothell , ed.Traumatic Brain Injury and Vocational Rehabilitation.(21-65). Monomonie, WI: The Research and Training Center, University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Wedel Sellars, C. and Hill Vegter, C. (2008).The Young Child: Myths and Facts about Brain Injury.(2nd Ed.). Lash Associates