Coughlin Jennifer M, Wang Yuchuan, Munro Cynthia A, Ma Shuangchao, Yue Chen, Chen Shaojie, Airan Raag, Kim Pearl K, Adams Ashley V, Garcia Cinthya, Higgs Cecilia, Sair Haris I, Sawa Akira, Smith Gwenn, Lyketsos Constantine G, Caffo Brian, Kassiou Michael, Guilarte Tomas R, Pomper Martin G
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Neurobiol Dis. 2015 Feb;74:58-65. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2014.10.019. Epub 2014 Nov 7.
There are growing concerns about potential delayed, neuropsychiatric consequences (e.g, cognitive decline, mood or anxiety disorders) of sports-related traumatic brain injury (TBI). Autopsy studies of brains from a limited number of former athletes have described characteristic, pathologic changes of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) leading to questions about the relationship between these pathologic and the neuropsychiatric disturbances seen in former athletes. Research in this area will depend on in vivo methods that characterize molecular changes in the brain, linking CTE and other sports-related pathologies with delayed emergence of neuropsychiatric symptoms. In this pilot project we studied former National Football League (NFL) players using new neuroimaging techniques and clinical measures of cognitive functioning. We hypothesized that former NFL players would show molecular and structural changes in medial temporal and parietal lobe structures as well as specific cognitive deficits, namely those of verbal learning and memory. We observed a significant increase in binding of [(11)C]DPA-713 to the translocator protein (TSPO), a marker of brain injury and repair, in several brain regions, such as the supramarginal gyrus and right amygdala, in 9 former NFL players compared to 9 age-matched, healthy controls. We also observed significant atrophy of the right hippocampus. Finally, we report that these same former players had varied performance on a test of verbal learning and memory, suggesting that these molecular and pathologic changes may play a role in cognitive decline. These results suggest that localized brain injury and repair, indicated by increased [(11)C]DPA-713 binding to TSPO, may be linked to history of NFL play. [(11)C]DPA-713 PET is a promising new tool that can be used in future study design to examine further the relationship between TSPO expression in brain injury and repair, selective regional brain atrophy, and the potential link to deficits in verbal learning and memory after NFL play.
人们越来越担心与运动相关的创伤性脑损伤（TBI）可能会导致延迟出现的神经精神后果（如认知衰退、情绪或焦虑障碍）。对少数前运动员大脑进行的尸检研究描述了慢性创伤性脑病（CTE）的特征性病理变化，这引发了关于这些病理变化与前运动员中出现的神经精神障碍之间关系的疑问。该领域的研究将依赖于能够表征大脑分子变化的体内方法，将CTE和其他与运动相关的病理与神经精神症状的延迟出现联系起来。在这个试点项目中，我们使用新的神经成像技术和认知功能临床测量方法对前美国国家橄榄球联盟（NFL）球员进行了研究。我们假设前NFL球员在颞叶内侧和顶叶结构会出现分子和结构变化以及特定的认知缺陷，即言语学习和记忆方面的缺陷。我们观察到，与9名年龄匹配的健康对照相比，9名前NFL球员的几个脑区（如缘上回和右杏仁核）中，[(11)C]DPA - 713与转运体蛋白（TSPO，一种脑损伤和修复的标志物）的结合显著增加。我们还观察到右海马体明显萎缩。最后，我们报告称，这些前球员在言语学习和记忆测试中的表现各不相同，这表明这些分子和病理变化可能在认知衰退中起作用。这些结果表明，[(11)C]DPA - 713与TSPO结合增加所表明的局部脑损伤和修复可能与NFL比赛经历有关。[(11)C]DPA - 713正电子发射断层扫描（PET）是一种有前景的新工具，可用于未来的研究设计，以进一步研究脑损伤和修复中TSPO表达、选择性区域脑萎缩以及NFL比赛后言语学习和记忆缺陷之间的潜在联系。
