Sattari Sahar, Kenny Rebecca, Liu Careesa Chang, Hajra Sujoy Ghosh, Dumont Guy A, Virji-Babul Naznin
School of Biomedical Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2023 Jul 19;17:1208498. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1208498. eCollection 2023.
Repetitive subconcussive head impacts can lead to subtle neural changes and functional consequences on brain health. However, the objective assessment of these changes remains limited. Resting state blink-related oscillations (BROs), recently discovered neurological responses following spontaneous blinking, are explored in this study to evaluate changes in BRO responses in subconcussive head impacts.
We collected 5-min resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) data from two cohorts of collegiate athletes who were engaged in contact sports (SC) or non-contact sports (HC). Video recordings of all on-field activities were conducted to determine the number of head impacts during games and practices in the SC group.
In both groups, we were able to detect a BRO response. Following one season of games and practice, we found a strong association between the number of head impacts sustained by the SC group and increases in delta and beta spectral power post-blink. There was also a significant difference between the two groups in the morphology of BRO responses, including decreased peak-to-peak amplitude of response over left parietal channels and differences in spectral power in delta and alpha frequency range post-blink.
Our preliminary results suggest that the BRO response may be a useful biomarker for detecting subtle neural changes resulting from repetitive head impacts. The clinical utility of this biomarker will need to be validated through further research with larger sample sizes, involving both male and female participants, using a longitudinal design.
重复性轻度脑震荡头部撞击可导致大脑健康出现细微的神经变化和功能后果。然而，对这些变化的客观评估仍然有限。本研究探索了静息状态下与眨眼相关的振荡（BROs），这是最近发现的自发眨眼后的神经反应，以评估轻度脑震荡头部撞击中BRO反应的变化。
我们从两组大学生运动员中收集了5分钟的静息状态脑电图（EEG）数据，一组从事接触性运动（SC），另一组从事非接触性运动（HC）。对所有场上活动进行视频记录，以确定SC组在比赛和训练期间的头部撞击次数。
在两组中，我们都能够检测到BRO反应。经过一个赛季的比赛和训练后，我们发现SC组遭受的头部撞击次数与眨眼后δ和β频谱功率增加之间存在强烈关联。两组在BRO反应的形态上也存在显著差异，包括左顶叶通道反应的峰峰值幅度降低以及眨眼后δ和α频率范围内的频谱功率差异。
我们的初步结果表明，BRO反应可能是检测重复性头部撞击导致的细微神经变化的有用生物标志物。这种生物标志物的临床效用需要通过进一步的研究来验证，研究应采用纵向设计，纳入更大样本量的男性和女性参与者。
