What Is CTE And How Is It Related To ‪Concussions?

Recent Research On CTE

A recent Boston University-led study published in the journal Brain conducted numerous experiments on mice and brain autopsies to determine the fundamental causes of CTE and possibly how to prevent it. In mice, head injuries causing concussions and the impacts leading to CTE had very different and distinct effects inside of the brain. Changes in behavior that becomes evident at different times are the standard symptoms patients will display, while in mice, immediate behavioral responses to a head injury ranged from nothing to disability. Researchers were also able to find what could be the earliest moments of development of CTE in the mice showing very few or immediate symptoms.

Co-author of the study, Lee Goldstein, a School of Medicine associate professor of psychiatry, and his team also inspected the brains of four teenage athletes who passed one day, two days, ten days, and four months after suffering fatal head injuries. Their brains were compared to the brains of other teenage athletes who died without a history of head injuries, and the results were staggering.

The Research's Discoveries

The researchers were able to indicate the unusual buildup of tau protein was evident in two of the athletes who experienced head trauma, giving scientists a breakthrough in the exact causes of CTE in athletes. The research's discoveries also helped to explain why twenty percent of athletes who display the early stages of CTE never had a diagnosed concussion. Goldstein suggested individuals who appeared to bounce right back after getting a head injury may have sustained internal damage that would not be evident for years. The overwhelming majority of people who receive head injuries are going back and doing the worst thing possible: getting repeatedly hit in the head, causing further brain damage.