A neurologic pathway by which non-damaging but high frequency brain impact blunts normal brain function and causes long-term problems with learning and memory has been identified. The finding suggests that tailored drug therapy can be designed and developed to reactivate and normalize cognitive function, say neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center.
The investigators, working with collaborators at the National Institutes of Health, had previously found that infrequent mild head impacts did not have an effect on learning and memory, but in their new study, the investigators found that when the frequency of these non-damaging head impacts are increased, the brain adapts and changes how it functions. The investigators have found the molecular pathway responsible for this down-tuning of the brain that can prevent this adaptation from occurring.
This study is the first to offer a detailed molecular analysis of what happens in the brain after highly repetitive and very mild blows to the head, using mice as an animal model, says the study’s senior investigator, Mark Burns, PhD, an associate professor in Georgetown’s Department of Neuroscience and head of the Laboratory for Brain Injury and Dementia.
