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According to a recent study, it would be enough for a single hard blow to the skull to develop nerve damage believed to be responsible for neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer 's disease.
Most research on the neurological impact of head injuries has focused on repeated injuries, such as those suffered by sports fighters or footballers; often it is based on post-mortem results. Researchers from all over Europe and the United Kingdom have therefore teamed up to examine the potential impact of a single accident on the brain tissue of living volunteers.
Using positron emission tomography (PET) scans, the researchers analyzed the brains of 21 volunteers who suffered a moderate to severe head injury until 37 years earlier, as a result of the disease. a fall, an assault or a road accident.
"Scientists are increasingly realizing that head trauma has a lasting legacy in the brain – and can continue to cause damage decades after the initial trauma," says neurologist Nikos Gorgoraptis of Imperial College London.
A dozen volunteers were declared disabled on the basis of an evaluation, the others being qualified as "cured". This group of traumatic brain injuries was then compared to 11 healthy individuals with no history of head trauma.
By administering a chemical exclusively linked to a repeated "entangled" version of a protein called tau, the researchers were able to reconstruct customized maps showing brains containing entangled tau clusters and those that did not. did not have.
They noted a significant increase in the amount of tau collected in the right occipital lobe – the posterior part of the brain – among those who had suffered traumatic brain injury, whether they were disabled or cured.
"This is the first time we have seen these tangled proteins in patients who have had a single head injury," said Gorgoraptis.
Tau proteins can be considered as scaffolds that help stabilize cell structures, especially neurons.
In people with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, these scaffolds seem rather twisted and knotted.
Along with the agglutination of another protein called beta-amyloid, it is thought that tau tangles play a key role in the pathology of dementia-type diseases.
The exact mechanisms causing the interaction of these two malformed proteins, and the way they have developed, are still being studied.
Research on treatments based on the elimination of beta-amyloid plaques and knotted tau proteins has also been rather random over the years, suggesting that we still have a lot to learn about their involvement in the ongoing degeneration nervous tissue
The fact that there appears to be some sort of relationship makes it an important indicator of the progression of these debilitating conditions.
This particular study is a preliminary study, based on a relatively small number of individuals. We will certainly need more research. It does not mean a single head injury. necessarily causes lasting damage, long-term dementia.
"It is well established that a major blow to the head, such as a road accident or assault, can increase your risk of developing dementia, but of course, that does not mean that everyone having a head injury will have dementia, "says James Pickett, head of research at the Alzheimer Society.
Nor does it indicate that these entanglements have had a significant impact on the memory or behavior of those affected.
But researchers believe that the most promising outcome of their research is the method of digitization: combining PET with a chemical indicator of tau lumps to closely monitor for signs of problems.
"What's exciting in this study is that it's the first step towards an analysis that can give a clear indication of the amount of tau present in the brain and its location." ", says Gorgoraptis.
"As treatments targeting tau tangles develop in the coming years, these tests will help physicians select which patients might benefit and monitor the effectiveness of these treatments."
Health professionals are already calling for increased vigilance with respect to activities that involve repeated head injuries.
Knowing that even a single injury can leave traces of damage deep in our brains, it is more important than ever that we develop tools to better diagnose dementia as early as possible.
This research was published in Translational medicine science.
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