Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA.
Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2013 Feb;21(2):138-44. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2012.11.019. Epub 2013 Jan 22.
Mild traumatic brain injury due to contact sports may cause chronic behavioral, mood, and cognitive disturbances associated with pathological deposition of tau protein found at brain autopsy. To explore whether brain tau deposits can be detected in living retired players, we used positron emission tomography (PET) scans after intravenous injections of 2-(1-{6-[(2-[F-18]fluoroethyl)(methyl)amino]-2-naphthyl}ethylidene)malononitrile (FDDNP).
Five retired National Football League players (age range: 45 to 73 years) with histories of mood and cognitive symptoms received neuropsychiatric evaluations and FDDNP-PET. PET signals in subcortical (caudate, putamen, thalamus, subthalamus, midbrain, cerebellar white matter) and cortical (amygdala, frontal, parietal, posterior cingulate, medial and lateral temporal) regions were compared with those of five male controls of comparable age, education, and body mass index.
FDDNP signals were higher in players compared with controls in all subcortical regions and the amygdala, areas that produce tau deposits following trauma.
The small sample size and lack of autopsy confirmation warrant larger, more definitive studies, but if future research confirms these initial findings, FDDNP-PET may offer a means for premorbid identification of neurodegeneration in contact-sports athletes.
接触性运动引起的轻度创伤性脑损伤可能导致慢性行为、情绪和认知障碍，这些障碍与尸检时发现的tau 蛋白病理性沉积有关。为了探讨是否可以在退役运动员的活体中检测到脑 tau 沉积物，我们使用静脉注射 2-（1-（{6-[(2-[F-18]氟乙基）（甲基）氨基]-2-萘基}亚乙基）丙二腈（FDDNP）后的正电子发射断层扫描（PET）扫描。
5 名有情绪和认知症状病史的退役国家橄榄球联盟球员（年龄范围：45 至 73 岁）接受了神经精神病学评估和 FDDNP-PET。将皮质下（尾状核、壳核、丘脑、下丘脑、中脑、小脑白质）和皮质（杏仁核、额叶、顶叶、后扣带回、内侧和外侧颞叶）区域的 PET 信号与 5 名年龄、教育程度和体重指数相当的男性对照进行比较。
与对照组相比，所有皮质下区域和杏仁核的 FDDNP 信号在运动员中均升高，这些区域在创伤后会产生 tau 沉积物。
样本量小且缺乏尸检确认，需要更大、更明确的研究，但如果未来的研究证实了这些初步发现，FDDNP-PET 可能为接触性运动运动员的神经退行性变提供一种发病前识别的方法。
