1
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Norris C, Murphy SF, Talty CE, VandeVord PJ. Spatial Intracranial Pressure Fields Driven by Blast Overpressure in Rats. Ann Biomed Eng 2024:10.1007/s10439-024-03544-7. [PMID: 38851659 DOI: 10.1007/s10439-024-03544-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2024] [Accepted: 05/08/2024] [Indexed: 06/10/2024]
Abstract
Free-field blast exposure imparts a complex, dynamic response within brain tissue that can trigger a cascade of lasting neurological deficits. Full body mechanical and physiological factors are known to influence the body's adaptation to this seemingly instantaneous insult, making it difficult to accurately pinpoint the brain injury mechanisms. This study examined the intracranial pressure (ICP) profile characteristics in a rat model as a function of blast overpressure magnitude and brain location. Metrics such as peak rate of change of pressure, peak pressure, rise time, and ICP frequency response were found to vary spatially throughout the brain, independent of blast magnitude, emphasizing unique spatial pressure fields as a primary biomechanical component to blast injury. This work discusses the ICP characteristics and considerations for finite element models, in vitro models, and translational in vivo models to improve understanding of biomechanics during primary blast exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carly Norris
- School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Susan F Murphy
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
- Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Salem, VA, USA
| | - Caiti-Erin Talty
- Graduate Program in Translational Biology, Medicine and Health, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Pamela J VandeVord
- School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
- Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Salem, VA, USA.
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2
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Duan S, Wang Z, Zhang W, Lu Y, Ma G. Effect of blast orientation, multi-point blasts, and repetitive blasts on brain injury. Med Eng Phys 2024; 127:104163. [PMID: 38692763 DOI: 10.1016/j.medengphy.2024.104163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2023] [Revised: 04/01/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/03/2024]
Abstract
Explosions in the battlefield can result in brain damage. Research on the effects of shock waves on brain tissue mainly focuses on the effects of single-orientation blast waves, while there have been few studies on the dynamic response of the human brain to directional explosions in different planes, multi-point explosions and repetitive explosions. Therefore, the brain tissue response and the intracranial pressure (ICP) caused by different blast loadings were numerically simulated using the CONWEP method. In the study of the blast in different directions, the lateral explosion blast wave was found to cause greater ICP than did blasts from other directions. When multi-point explosions occurred in the sagittal plane simultaneously, the ICP in the temporal lobe increased by 37.8 % and the ICP in the parietal lobe decreased by 17.6 %. When multi-point explosions occurred in the horizontal plane, the ICP in the frontal lobe increased by 61.8 % and the ICP in the temporal lobe increased by 12.2 %. In a study of repetitive explosions, the maximum ICP of the second blast increased by 40.6 % over that of the first blast, and that of the third blast increased by 61.2 % over that of the second blast. The ICP on the brain tissue from repetitive blasts can exceed 200 % of that of a single explosion blast wave.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuhuai Duan
- School of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
| | - Zhidong Wang
- School of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
| | - Wei Zhang
- School of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China; State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis, Optimization and CAE Software for Industrial Equipment, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
| | - Yongtao Lu
- School of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China; DUT-BSU joint Institute, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
| | - Guojun Ma
- School of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China; DUT-BSU joint Institute, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China; State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis, Optimization and CAE Software for Industrial Equipment, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China.
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3
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Rubio JE, Subramaniam DR, Unnikrishnan G, Sajja VSSS, Van Albert S, Rossetti F, Frock A, Nguyen G, Sundaramurthy A, Long JB, Reifman J. A biomechanical-based approach to scale blast-induced molecular changes in the brain. Sci Rep 2022; 12:14605. [PMID: 36028539 PMCID: PMC9418170 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-17967-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Animal studies provide valuable insights on how the interaction of blast waves with the head may injure the brain. However, there is no acceptable methodology to scale the findings from animals to humans. Here, we propose an experimental/computational approach to project observed blast-induced molecular changes in the rat brain to the human brain. Using a shock tube, we exposed rats to a range of blast overpressures (BOPs) and used a high-fidelity computational model of a rat head to correlate predicted biomechanical responses with measured changes in glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in rat brain tissues. Our analyses revealed correlates between model-predicted strain rate and measured GFAP changes in three brain regions. Using these correlates and a high-fidelity computational model of a human head, we determined the equivalent BOPs in rats and in humans that induced similar strain rates across the two species. We used the equivalent BOPs to project the measured GFAP changes in the rat brain to the human. Our results suggest that, relative to the rat, the human requires an exposure to a blast wave of a higher magnitude to elicit similar brain-tissue responses. Our proposed methodology could assist in the development of safety guidelines for blast exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jose E Rubio
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, ATTN: FCMR-TT, 504 Scott Street, Fort Detrick, MD, 21702-5012, USA.,The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., 6720-A Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20817, USA
| | - Dhananjay Radhakrishnan Subramaniam
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, ATTN: FCMR-TT, 504 Scott Street, Fort Detrick, MD, 21702-5012, USA.,The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., 6720-A Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20817, USA
| | - Ginu Unnikrishnan
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, ATTN: FCMR-TT, 504 Scott Street, Fort Detrick, MD, 21702-5012, USA.,The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., 6720-A Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20817, USA
| | - Venkata Siva Sai Sujith Sajja
- Blast Induced Neurotrauma Branch, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Ave, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA
| | - Stephen Van Albert
- Blast Induced Neurotrauma Branch, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Ave, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA
| | - Franco Rossetti
- Blast Induced Neurotrauma Branch, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Ave, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA
| | - Andrew Frock
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, ATTN: FCMR-TT, 504 Scott Street, Fort Detrick, MD, 21702-5012, USA.,The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., 6720-A Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20817, USA
| | - Giang Nguyen
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, ATTN: FCMR-TT, 504 Scott Street, Fort Detrick, MD, 21702-5012, USA.,The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., 6720-A Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20817, USA
| | - Aravind Sundaramurthy
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, ATTN: FCMR-TT, 504 Scott Street, Fort Detrick, MD, 21702-5012, USA.,The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., 6720-A Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20817, USA
| | - Joseph B Long
- Blast Induced Neurotrauma Branch, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Ave, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA
| | - Jaques Reifman
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, ATTN: FCMR-TT, 504 Scott Street, Fort Detrick, MD, 21702-5012, USA.
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4
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McNamara EH, Tucker LB, Liu J, Fu AH, Kim Y, Vu PA, McCabe JT. Limbic Responses Following Shock Wave Exposure in Male and Female Mice. Front Behav Neurosci 2022; 16:863195. [PMID: 35747840 PMCID: PMC9210954 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.863195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2022] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Blast traumatic brain injury (bTBI) presents a serious threat to military personnel and often results in psychiatric conditions related to limbic system dysfunction. In this study, the functional outcomes for anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors and neuronal activation were evaluated in male and female mice after exposure to an Advanced Blast Simulator (ABS) shock wave. Mice were placed in a ventrally exposed orientation inside of the ABS test section and received primary and tertiary shock wave insults of approximately 15 psi peak pressure. Evans blue staining indicated cases of blood-brain barrier breach in the superficial cerebral cortex four, but not 24 h after blast, but the severity was variable. Behavioral testing with the elevated plus maze (EPM) or elevated zero maze (EZM), sucrose preference test (SPT), and tail suspension test (TST) or forced swim test (FST) were conducted 8 days–3.5 weeks after shock wave exposure. There was a sex difference, but no injury effect, for distance travelled in the EZM where female mice travelled significantly farther than males. The SPT and FST did not indicate group differences; however, injured mice were less immobile than sham mice during the TST; possibly indicating more agitated behavior. In a separate cohort of animals, the expression of the immediate early gene, c-Fos, was detected 4 h after undergoing bTBI or sham procedures. No differences in c-Fos expression were found in the cerebral cortex, but female mice in general displayed enhanced c-Fos activation in the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) compared to male mice. In the amygdala, more c-Fos-positive cells were observed in injured animals compared to sham mice. The observed sex differences in the PVT and c-Fos activation in the amygdala may correlate with the reported hyperactivity of females post-injury. This study demonstrates, albeit with mild effects, behavioral and neuronal activation correlates in female rodents after blast injury that could be relevant to the incidence of increased post-traumatic stress disorder in women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eileen H. McNamara
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Laura B. Tucker
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, United States
- Pre-Clinical Studies Core, Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Henry M. Jackson Foundation, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Jiong Liu
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Amanda H. Fu
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, United States
- Pre-Clinical Studies Core, Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Henry M. Jackson Foundation, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Yeonho Kim
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, United States
- Pre-Clinical Studies Core, Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Henry M. Jackson Foundation, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Patricia A. Vu
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Joseph T. McCabe
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, United States
- Pre-Clinical Studies Core, Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Henry M. Jackson Foundation, Bethesda, MD, United States
- *Correspondence: Joseph T. McCabe,
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5
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Sundaramurthy A, Kote VB, Pearson N, Boiczyk GM, McNeil EM, Nelson AJ, Subramaniam DR, Rubio JE, Monson K, Hardy WN, VandeVord PJ, Unnikrishnan G, Reifman J. A 3-D Finite-Element Minipig Model to Assess Brain Biomechanical Responses to Blast Exposure. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022; 9:757755. [PMID: 34976963 PMCID: PMC8719465 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.757755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2021] [Accepted: 11/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite years of research, it is still unknown whether the interaction of explosion-induced blast waves with the head causes injury to the human brain. One way to fill this gap is to use animal models to establish “scaling laws” that project observed brain injuries in animals to humans. This requires laboratory experiments and high-fidelity mathematical models of the animal head to establish correlates between experimentally observed blast-induced brain injuries and model-predicted biomechanical responses. To this end, we performed laboratory experiments on Göttingen minipigs to develop and validate a three-dimensional (3-D) high-fidelity finite-element (FE) model of the minipig head. First, we performed laboratory experiments on Göttingen minipigs to obtain the geometry of the cerebral vasculature network and to characterize brain-tissue and vasculature material properties in response to high strain rates typical of blast exposures. Next, we used the detailed cerebral vasculature information and species-specific brain tissue and vasculature material properties to develop the 3-D high-fidelity FE model of the minipig head. Then, to validate the model predictions, we performed laboratory shock-tube experiments, where we exposed Göttingen minipigs to a blast overpressure of 210 kPa in a laboratory shock tube and compared brain pressures at two locations. We observed a good agreement between the model-predicted pressures and the experimental measurements, with differences in maximum pressure of less than 6%. Finally, to evaluate the influence of the cerebral vascular network on the biomechanical predictions, we performed simulations where we compared results of FE models with and without the vasculature. As expected, incorporation of the vasculature decreased brain strain but did not affect the predictions of brain pressure. However, we observed that inclusion of the cerebral vasculature in the model changed the strain distribution by as much as 100% in regions near the interface between the vasculature and the brain tissue, suggesting that the vasculature does not merely decrease the strain but causes drastic redistributions. This work will help establish correlates between observed brain injuries and predicted biomechanical responses in minipigs and facilitate the creation of scaling laws to infer potential injuries in the human brain due to exposure to blast waves.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aravind Sundaramurthy
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, Fort Detrick, MD, United States.,The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Vivek Bhaskar Kote
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, Fort Detrick, MD, United States.,The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Noah Pearson
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Gregory M Boiczyk
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Elizabeth M McNeil
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States
| | - Allison J Nelson
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States.,Center for Injury Biomechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States
| | - Dhananjay Radhakrishnan Subramaniam
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, Fort Detrick, MD, United States.,The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Jose E Rubio
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, Fort Detrick, MD, United States.,The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Kenneth Monson
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Warren N Hardy
- Center for Injury Biomechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States
| | - Pamela J VandeVord
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States.,Center for Injury Biomechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States
| | - Ginu Unnikrishnan
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, Fort Detrick, MD, United States.,The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Jaques Reifman
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, Fort Detrick, MD, United States
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6
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Subramaniam DR, Unnikrishnan G, Sundaramurthy A, Rubio JE, Kote VB, Reifman J. Cerebral Vasculature Influences Blast-Induced Biomechanical Responses of Human Brain Tissue. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2021; 9:744808. [PMID: 34805106 PMCID: PMC8599150 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.744808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Multiple finite-element (FE) models to predict the biomechanical responses in the human brain resulting from the interaction with blast waves have established the importance of including the brain-surface convolutions, the major cerebral veins, and using non-linear brain-tissue properties to improve model accuracy. We hypothesize that inclusion of a more detailed network of cerebral veins and arteries can further enhance the model-predicted biomechanical responses and help identify correlates of blast-induced brain injury. To more comprehensively capture the biomechanical responses of human brain tissues to blast-wave exposure, we coupled a three-dimensional (3-D) detailed-vasculature human-head FE model, previously validated for blunt impact, with a 3-D shock-tube FE model. Using the coupled model, we computed the biomechanical responses of a human head facing an incoming blast wave for blast overpressures (BOPs) equivalent to 68, 83, and 104 kPa. We validated our FE model, which includes the detailed network of cerebral veins and arteries, the gyri and the sulci, and hyper-viscoelastic brain-tissue properties, by comparing the model-predicted intracranial pressure (ICP) values with previously collected data from shock-tube experiments performed on cadaver heads. In addition, to quantify the influence of including a more comprehensive network of brain vessels, we compared the biomechanical responses of our detailed-vasculature model with those of a reduced-vasculature model and a no-vasculature model for the same blast-loading conditions. For the three BOPs, the predicted ICP values matched well with the experimental results in the frontal lobe, with peak-pressure differences of 4-11% and phase-shift differences of 9-13%. As expected, incorporating the detailed cerebral vasculature did not influence the ICP, however, it redistributed the peak brain-tissue strains by as much as 30% and yielded peak strain differences of up to 7%. When compared to existing reduced-vasculature FE models that only include the major cerebral veins, our high-fidelity model redistributed the brain-tissue strains in most of the brain, highlighting the importance of including a detailed cerebral vessel network in human-head FE models to more comprehensively account for the biomechanical responses induced by blast exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dhananjay Radhakrishnan Subramaniam
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, Fort Detrick, MD, United States
- The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Ginu Unnikrishnan
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, Fort Detrick, MD, United States
- The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Aravind Sundaramurthy
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, Fort Detrick, MD, United States
- The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Jose E. Rubio
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, Fort Detrick, MD, United States
- The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Vivek Bhaskar Kote
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, Fort Detrick, MD, United States
- The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Jaques Reifman
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, Fort Detrick, MD, United States
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7
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Rubio JE, Unnikrishnan G, Sajja VSSS, Van Albert S, Rossetti F, Skotak M, Alay E, Sundaramurthy A, Subramaniam DR, Long JB, Chandra N, Reifman J. Investigation of the direct and indirect mechanisms of primary blast insult to the brain. Sci Rep 2021; 11:16040. [PMID: 34362935 PMCID: PMC8346555 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-95003-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The interaction of explosion-induced blast waves with the head (i.e., a direct mechanism) or with the torso (i.e., an indirect mechanism) presumably causes traumatic brain injury. However, the understanding of the potential role of each mechanism in causing this injury is still limited. To address this knowledge gap, we characterized the changes in the brain tissue of rats resulting from the direct and indirect mechanisms at 24 h following blast exposure. To this end, we conducted separate blast-wave exposures on rats in a shock tube at an incident overpressure of 130 kPa, while using whole-body, head-only, and torso-only configurations to delineate each mechanism. Then, we performed histopathological (silver staining) and immunohistochemical (GFAP, Iba-1, and NeuN staining) analyses to evaluate brain-tissue changes resulting from each mechanism. Compared to controls, our results showed no significant changes in torso-only-exposed rats. In contrast, we observed significant changes in whole-body-exposed (GFAP and silver staining) and head-only-exposed rats (silver staining). In addition, our analyses showed that a head-only exposure causes changes similar to those observed for a whole-body exposure, provided the exposure conditions are similar. In conclusion, our results suggest that the direct mechanism is the major contributor to blast-induced changes in brain tissues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jose E Rubio
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, ATTN: FCMR-TT, 504 Scott Street, Fort Detrick, MD, 21702-5012, USA
- The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., 6720A Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20817, USA
| | - Ginu Unnikrishnan
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, ATTN: FCMR-TT, 504 Scott Street, Fort Detrick, MD, 21702-5012, USA
- The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., 6720A Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20817, USA
| | - Venkata Siva Sai Sujith Sajja
- Blast Induced Neurotrauma Division, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Drive, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA
| | - Stephen Van Albert
- Blast Induced Neurotrauma Division, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Drive, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA
| | - Franco Rossetti
- Blast Induced Neurotrauma Division, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Drive, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA
| | - Maciej Skotak
- Blast Induced Neurotrauma Division, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Drive, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Center for Injury Biomechanics, Materials, and Medicine, New Jersey Institute of Technology, 111 Lock Street, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA
| | - Eren Alay
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Center for Injury Biomechanics, Materials, and Medicine, New Jersey Institute of Technology, 111 Lock Street, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA
| | - Aravind Sundaramurthy
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, ATTN: FCMR-TT, 504 Scott Street, Fort Detrick, MD, 21702-5012, USA
- The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., 6720A Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20817, USA
| | - Dhananjay Radhakrishnan Subramaniam
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, ATTN: FCMR-TT, 504 Scott Street, Fort Detrick, MD, 21702-5012, USA
- The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., 6720A Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20817, USA
| | - Joseph B Long
- Blast Induced Neurotrauma Division, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Drive, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA
| | - Namas Chandra
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Center for Injury Biomechanics, Materials, and Medicine, New Jersey Institute of Technology, 111 Lock Street, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA
| | - Jaques Reifman
- Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, ATTN: FCMR-TT, 504 Scott Street, Fort Detrick, MD, 21702-5012, USA.
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