Novel Brain Imaging Techniques Detection Brain Injury Sunday, Nov 30 2008

MIT Technology Review has just published an interesting story about using three different brain imaging techniques. These imaging techniques may allow physicians to better diagnose very mild brain injury. Often mild brain injury may not be detectable by normal MRI or CT brain scans.

Scientists believe that a mild brain insult can damage the white matter in the brain. The white matter are the projections made of neuron axons that move messages between different brain cells. This white matter does not show up on regular CT or MRI scans. One new brain imaging technique is called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). DTI is able to track water molecules that are located in the white matter of the brain. Another variation of an MRI scan is called magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI). This technique is able to analyze various spectral frequencies of certain chemcials that are found in the body or brain. MSRI is able to measure the concentrations of two different chemicals that are located in a person’s brain. These chemicals are n-acetylaspartate (NAA) and also choline. N-acetylaspartate is a marker for white-matter density in the brain. While choline has been linked to brain injury.

A third imaging technique that researchers have used is called magnetoencephalography (MEG). This technique is able to measure the magnetic fields which are created by the electrical activity of brain cells. The researchers used MEG to detect slow-wave activity. This type of brain activity has been linked to damage to white matter.

You can read the entire story here.

Both DTI and MRSI can be performed using most standard MRI machines, but they require much more extensive data analysis than most medical imaging, something that radiologists aren’t used to providing. “It is computationally and analytically intensive,” says Brody. MEG, which is used to pinpoint seizures in epilepsy patients, is even more complicated, and the machines are still quite rare in clinical centers.

In addition, it’s not yet clear how soon after injury these approaches can identify patients likely to suffer long-term problems. While no protective treatments for brain injury yet exist, they are under development, and they would need to be delivered immediately.

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Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Brain Injury Treatment Saturday, Nov 29 2008

Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a completely new method of manipulating the mind. Conventional TMS has been around since 1985 and used electromagnetic pulses that pass through a person’s skull into their brain. These pulses can then create an electric current in a very targeted brain region. Different pulses have different effects on the underlying brain tissue. High frequency electromagnetic pulses are able to excite brain activity, while low frequency pulses tend to decrease activity. The main problem with conventional TMS is that it can only reach approximately 1 or 2 centimeters into the brain. This leaves many brain regions unreachable. Deep TMS, however, is able to reach about 7 centimeters into the brain. This means that almost any brain region is within reach. The deep TMS can penetrate and selectively increase activity deep within the brain without overexciting regions closer to the skull. Having a brain manipulation tool with this selectivity may be used for a variety of brain disorders and also brain injury treatment.

Researchers are currently testing deep TMS in a clinical trial to improve the performance among stroke patients. Deep TMS is a powerful tool that can shape the brain through neuroplastic mechanisms. For that specific study, researchers are testing TMS for efficacy and safety in treating ischemic stroke. Ischemic stroke is caused from a blood clot localized in a person’s brain. TMS can cause an increased in brain growth factors like brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF may allow neurogenesis (the growth of new neurons) and also the sprouting of neuronal axons. This might be expected to speed the recovery among stroke patients. Transcranial direct current stimulation and deep brain stimulation may also be used in the future to do this.

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Pharmaceutical Drug Neuron Regeneration After Brain Damage Saturday, Nov 29 2008

A new study has come out of the Children’s Hospital Boston in the Nobember 7 issue of science. In the study researchers were able to temporarily silence specific genes that stop neurons from regenerating again. After brain damage this allowed the neurons to recover and also to regrow. It may be helpful for a variety of brain disorders in the future.

Normally neurons which are damaged are not able to regenerate. So there is no acceptable treatment for things like brain injury or spinal cord damage. Other studies have looked into this phenomenon. They previously found some very modest effects on brain cell recovery.

According the one of the researchers, “We knew that on completion of development, cells stop growing due to genetic mechanisms that prevent overgrowth,” explains He. “We thought that this kind of mechanism might also prevent regeneration after injury.”

This specific pathway that controls the growth of neurons is called the mTOR pathway. This pathway is active when the brain is developing, but as neurons mature it ceases to grow new neurons. It basically shuts of and is of no use for the organism any more. By stopping this pathway the scientists were able to allow the regeneration of new neurons.

The researchers found that if they silence a growth inhibitor gene named PTEN, there was a promotion of optic nerve regeneration. The researchers also used genetic techniques to actually delete a couple of inhibitory regulators of a specific pathway (mTOR).

The reserachers then damaged the mice optic nerves. They then followed the progression of neuron regeneration two weeks after they underwent this damage. Surprisingly 50 percent of the injured neurons with the gene deletions survived in comparison to only 20 percent of neurons in mice who did not get the deletions. The mice also showed regrowth of some of the axons projecting from the neurons. This shows that regrowth of neurons in the brain is possible.

This specific study actually used genetic modification of the mice genes. However, researchers believe that it will be possible to use drugs to regenerate neurons as well. Small molecule drugs may be used in the future to enhance brain neurogenesis.

You can read more about this study here.

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Traumatic Injury Hospital On a Chip Saturday, Nov 29 2008

In the battlefield of the future, soldiers with traumatic injuries may get treatment before even reaching a medic. Scientists at several universities are creating what is called a “field hospital” on a microchip. This microchip could be worn by almost any soldier. It would allow the immediate detection of a traumatic injury and then could administer medication simultaneously. Most battle wounds require treatment within the first 30 minutes. Two researchers, Joseph Wang from University of California and Evgeny Katz of Clarkson University are getting a 1.6 million dollar grant coming from the Office of Naval Research. They will use the money to create a high-tech field hospital on a chip

The chip itself will be automated and will be able to continuously monitor several biomarkers coming from a soldier. It will test the sweat and blood for common indicators of battlefield injuries. It will also be able to diagnose traumatic brain injuries and can adjust the necessary medication dose.  This may go a long way in reducing brain injuries sustained from an insult.

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Cutting Edge Neuroscience Conference Trends 2009 Saturday, Nov 29 2008

At the Society for Neuroscience Conference held in Washington a week ago they listed 10 top trends for 2009. These trends are the emerging aspects of neuroscience that will have an impact on the treatment of many brain based disorders including traumatic brain injury.  They will lead to many changes in the future.

1. Epigenetics leading to the creation of new types of treatment targets: New research about the role of the environment on genes and the epigenetic factors that go into how the brain functions. Learning these epigenetic phenomenon may lead to a better insight into a variety of brain based disorders. It will enable better therapeutic targets for memory loss, addiction, obesity and mental illness.

2. The National Neurotechnology Initiative Act: This new legislation from the US government provides approximately 200 million dollars a year for federal research and development. This money will be used for neurotechnology products and includes speeding up the review process for neuroscience devices, drugs and diagonistics.

3. Stem Cells, New Sources: Researchers are finding a variety of new sources for neural stem cells. Utilizing many of these new sources will be much less controversial than embryonic stem cells. They neural stem cells may be used to replace missing brain tissue. They could be used for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, stroke, hearing loss and vision loss.

4. Deep Brain Stimulation Research: Deep Brain Stimulation will become a more refined treatment modality for many disorders. Deep brain stimulation involves implanting an electrode in the brain to alter its functioning. Deep brain stimulation implants will continue to get smaller and more refined. They will enable the treatment of many currently treatment resistant illnesses.

5. Addiction advances: A better understanding of synaptic plasticity may lead to much better treatments for addiction. Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation may increasingly find use to treat addiction in the future. Electromagnetic pulses can activate the reward pathways directly. Deep brain stimulation implants also have the possibility of doing this when targeted to the reward related regions.

6. Stress prevention: New research will find new ways to prevent the stress response from occurring. Future antidepressant drugs may alter stress hormones for a beneficial effect.

7. Advances for traumatic brain injury: Scientists will be better able to detect and also provide effective treatment. New research into the inflammation mechanisms of the brain could provide better treatments for those with stroke or brain injuries.

8. Get enough sleep: Better understanding of sleep will lead to better therapeutics .

9. Discovery tools that will underpin innovation: Brain scans will get cheaper and be able to image the brain better. Neural computation is accelerating the current pace of neuroscientific discovery.

10. Neuroscience infiltrates all of society: The influence and the impact of the field of neuroscience on society will continue to grow. Neuroscience fields include neuroethics, neuroeconomics, neurofinance, neuroesthetics and neurolaw.

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Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Saturday, Nov 29 2008

A new traumatic brain injury study has come out that shows potential promise for the treatment of victims of this type of accident.  The study was performed by Oxygen Biotherapeutics.  The study was just recently been published in the medical journal Neurosurgery (October 2008 edition).  The researchers did the study on rats who had sustained a traumatic brain injury.  The scientists administered oxygen therapy to the brains of the rats and this led to a positive outcome.

Oxygen Biotherapeutics has created what is called a perfluorocarbon (PFC) therapeutic oxygen carrier.  They tested this carrier on the brains of rats who had sustained a brain insult.  Interestingly the carrier improves cognitive capacity and also has a protective affect on the rats hippocampal neurons.

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