Cited by 46Traumatic Brain Injury ResearchTraumatic Brain Injury and Neurovascular DisturbancesAutomotive and Human Injury Biomechanics

Telomere length and advanced diffusion MRI as biomarkers for repetitive mild traumatic brain injury in adolescent rats

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Wright, David K., O'Brien, Terence J., Mychasiuk, Richelle, Shultz, Sandy R.·2018·NeuroImage: Clinical

Abstract

Mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) are of worldwide concern in adolescents of both sexes, and repeated mTBI (RmTBI) may have serious long-term neurological consequences. As such, the study of RmTBI and discovery of objective biomarkers that can help guide medical decisions is an important undertaking. Diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI), which provides markers of axonal injury, and telomere length (TL) are two clinically relevant biomarkers that have been implicated in a number of neurological conditions, and may also be affected by RmTBI. Therefore, this study utilized the lateral impact injury model of RmTBI to investigate changes in diffusion MRI and TL, and how these changes relate to each other. Adolescent male and female rats received either three mTBIs or three sham injuries. The first injury was given on postnatal day 30 (P30), with the repeated injuries separated by four days each. Seven days after the final injury, a sample of ear tissue was collected for TL analysis. Rats were then euthanized and whole brains were collected and fixated for MRI analyses that included diffusion and high-resolution structural sequences. Compared to the sham-injured group, RmTBI rats had significantly shorter TL at seven days post-injury. Analysis of advanced DWI measures found that RmTBI rats had abnormalities in the corpus callosum and cortex at seven days post-injury. Notably, many of the DWI changes were correlated with TL. These findings demonstrate that TL and DWI measurements are changed by RmTBI and may represent clinically applicable biomarkers for this.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.nicl.2018.01.033

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  • Evidence of reductions in telomere length and deficiencies in DNA repair following TBI could predispose neural cells to senescence.

    “There is evidence of reductions in telomere length and deficiencies in DNA repair following TBI which could predispose neural cells to senescence [124–126].”

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Authors
Wright, D. K., O'Brien, T. J., Mychasiuk, R., & Shultz, S. R.
Affiliations
  • The University of Melbourne (AU)
  • The Royal Melbourne Hospital (AU)
  • University of Calgary (CA)
Corresponding author
Shultz, Sandy R.
Venue
NeuroImage: Clinical
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2018
Volume
18
Pages
315-324
ISSN
2213-1582 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2788141036
Cited by
46
References
81
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 4
FWCI
4.87
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • NeuroImage Clinical (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Monash University Research Portal (Monash University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • National Health and Medical Research Council (1087172)
  • Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Traumatic Brain Injury Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Traumatic Brain Injury and Neurovascular Disturbances
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Automotive and Human Injury Biomechanics
Keywords
repetitive mild traumatic brain injury, telomere length, diffusion-weighted imaging, biomarkers, axonal injury, adolescent rats, corpus callosum, cortex, sex differences
MeSH terms
Analysis of Variance, Animals, Brain Concussion, Brain Mapping, Disease Models, Animal, Female, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Male, Neurologic Examination, Sex Factors, Telomere, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Rats, Telomere Shortening

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