Normalized Brain Tissue–Level Evaluation of Volumetric Changes of Youth Athletes Participating in Collision Sports

Abstract

Observations of short-term changes in the neural health of youth athletes participating in collision sports (e.g., football and soccer) have highlighted a need to explore potential structural alterations in brain tissue volumes for these persons. Studies have shown biochemical, vascular, functional connectivity, and white matter diffusivity changes in the brain physiology of these athletes that are strongly correlated with repetitive head acceleration exposure. Here, research is presented that highlights regional anatomical volumetric measures that change longitudinally with accrued subconcussive trauma. A novel pipeline is introduced that provides simplified data analysis on standard-space template to quantify group-level longitudinal volumetric changes within these populations. For both sports, results highlight incremental relative regional volumetric changes in the subcortical cerebrospinal fluid that are strongly correlated with head exposure events greater than a 50-G threshold at the short-term post-season assessment. Moreover, longitudinal regional gray matter volumes are observed to decrease with time, only returning to baseline/pre-participation levels after sufficient (5–6 months) rest from collision-based exposure. These temporal structural volumetric alterations are significantly different from normal aging observed in sex- and age-matched controls participating in non-collision sports. Future work involves modeling repetitive head exposure thresholds with multi-modal image analysis and understanding the underlying physiological reason. A possible pathophysiological pathway is presented, highlighting the probable metabolic regulatory mechanisms. Continual participation in collision-based activities may represent a risk wherein recovery cannot occur. Even when present, the degree of the eventual recovery remains to be explored, but has strong implications for the well-being of collision-sport participants.

A Novel Experimental Approach for the Measurement of Vibration-Induced Changes in the Rheological Properties of Ex Vivo Ovine Brain Tissue

“…Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are prolific amongst high-impact-sports players, with some collegiate football players amassing over 1000 head injuries in a season [1]. Reports of depressive, anxious, and aggressive behaviours and cognitive delays have emerged from people with increased subjection to repeated TBIs, including high impact sports players, military personnel, and sufferers of physical abuse [2][3][4][5]. Despite regular subjection to TBIs, understanding of the neurological effects of repeated head trauma and importance of return to play legislation in sports is lacking [6].…”

Mathematical model of mechanobiology of acute and repeated synaptic injury and systemic biomarker kinetics

“…Repeated concussions, relatively common in contact sports, have been recognized as serious medical events that can cause sustained cognitive and psychiatric changes, as well as neurodegeneration ( McKee et al, 2009 ; Prins et al, 2013 ; Greco et al, 2019 ; Zetterberg et al, 2019 ; Kashyap et al, 2022 ). Recently, it has become evident that non-injurious sub-concussive repeated head impacts, such as frequent heading in soccer, may result in acute and chronic neurological effects ( Ashton et al, 2020 ; Kakavas et al, 2021 ; McCunn et al, 2021 ; Sandmo et al, 2022 ).…”