- Currently, X-rays, CT scans and MRIs are the main tests to identify brain damage.
- Some gut bacteria could be used to track the impact of concussions and recovery time.
- What is most novel about this finding is that it could be the basis for developing a new simple diagnostic test.
A recently published study by scientists at Houston Methodist Hospital suggested that telltale signs of concussions in the intestine. By taking blood, stool and saliva samples from 33 Rice University football players, the researchers were able to examine the diagnostic potential of the gut microbiome.
Cerebral contusions are caused by the violent shaking of the brain against the vault or base of the skull and its irregularities. They can grow in the hours following the trauma and even appear some that were not initially evident. They are usually small and diffuse, and secondary to vascular rupture.
Main benefits of this finding
According to the researchers, these findings demonstrate that a simple and objective diagnostic test to track the impact of concussions and signal when it is safe to return to action.
The Drs. Sirena Soriano and Sonia Villapol are part of a research team that showed that certain gut bacteria can be used to track the impact of concussions and recovery time.
Findings from this study are described in an article titled: “Gut microbiome alterations after sports-related concussion in an entourage of college football players: a pilot study.”
Dr. Sonia Villapol, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the Center for Neuroregeneration at the Research Institute of the Houston Methodist Hospitalis the author of the study.
While movement of the brain within the skull can cause injury to nerve cells, such microscopic cell injuries are not visible on imaging tests such as X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs, which are used to find injuries such as skull fractures , brain hemorrhage or swelling.
Therefore, the most widely used test for diagnosing concussions is based solely on self-reported symptoms such as blurred vision, dizziness, nausea, and headaches, which can be very vague, subjective, and often athletes who want to keep playing they do not notify them. This can make them notoriously difficult to diagnose.
The study, conducted over the course of one season, found a post-concussion decline in two bacterial species normally found in abundance in stool samples from healthy individuals.
He also found a correlation between traumatic brain injury-related proteins in the blood and a brain-injury-related bacterial species found in feces.
While dozens of biomarkers of brain injury have been identified, there has been limited success in developing commercial blood tests sensitive enough to detect small increases in biomarker concentrations. However, the central nervous system is also closely related to the enteric nervous system, which occurs in the intestines, and head injuries invariably lead to changes in the gut microbiota.
After a concussion, injuries cause inflammation, sending small proteins and molecules circulating through the blood that break down the intestinal barrier and cause changes in the gut, affecting metabolism.
He explained that these changes in the microbiota could offer an opportunity to acquire a readout of ongoing injury in the central nervous system.
While only four players in the study were diagnosed with major concussions, the researchers say the results will need to be confirmed in a larger sample. They also plan to conduct a similar study soon with female soccer athletes, who also have frequent head injuries.
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