Schultz Douglas H, Bouchard Heather C, Barbot Michelle C, Laing-Young Julia M, Chiao Amanda, Higgins Kate L, Savage Cary R, Neta Maital
Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States of America.
Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2025 Apr 11;20(4):e0319736. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0319736. eCollection 2025.
The long-term consequences of concussion are still being uncovered but have been linked to disruptions in cognition and psychological well-being. Previous studies focusing on the association between concussion history and structural changes in the brain have reported inconsistent results. We sought to examine the effect of concussion history on cortical volume with a focus on functional networks. These networks are associated with many of the functions that can be disrupted in those with an extensive concussion history. We collected baseline behavioral data including the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing, a self-report measure of the number of diagnosed concussions, and structural MRI in college athletes (n=296; 263 men and 33 women, age range 17-24). Behavioral measures were collected by members of the Department of Athletics concussion management team using a standardized protocol as part of their on-boarding process. Collegiate athletes in the present study who self-reported concussion history did not report different baseline symptoms and did not exhibit consistent differences in cognitive performance relative to those who reported no concussion history. We found that concussion history was not related to cortical volume at the network or region level, even when we compared participants with two or more concussions to those with no concussion history. We did identify relationships between cortical volume in the visual network and dorsal attention network with cognitive performance. In addition to comparing cortical volume between individuals with and without reported concussion history, we also examined whether cortical volume changes could be observed within individuals from baseline to acutely following concussion. We found that network level cortical volume did not change within subjects from baseline measurement to acutely post-concussion. Together, these results suggest that both self-reported concussion history and acute concussion effects are not associated with changes in cortical volume in young adult athletes.
脑震荡的长期后果仍在不断被发现，且已被认为与认知和心理健康的紊乱有关。以往聚焦于脑震荡病史与大脑结构变化之间关联的研究报告结果并不一致。我们试图研究脑震荡病史对皮质体积的影响，重点关注功能网络。这些网络与许多在有广泛脑震荡病史的人群中可能受到干扰的功能相关。我们收集了基线行为数据，包括脑震荡后即刻评估和认知测试、一份关于确诊脑震荡次数的自我报告测量，以及对大学运动员（n = 296；263名男性和33名女性，年龄范围17 - 24岁）进行的结构磁共振成像。行为测量由体育系脑震荡管理团队成员按照标准化方案在其入职流程中进行收集。本研究中自我报告有脑震荡病史的大学运动员与那些报告无脑震荡病史的运动员相比，并未报告不同的基线症状，在认知表现上也未表现出一致的差异。我们发现，即使将有两次或更多次脑震荡的参与者与无脑震荡病史的参与者进行比较，脑震荡病史与网络或区域水平的皮质体积并无关联。我们确实发现视觉网络和背侧注意网络中的皮质体积与认知表现之间存在关系。除了比较有和没有报告脑震荡病史的个体之间的皮质体积，我们还研究了从基线到脑震荡后急性期个体内部是否能观察到皮质体积的变化。我们发现，从基线测量到脑震荡后急性期，个体内部网络水平的皮质体积没有变化。总之，这些结果表明，自我报告的脑震荡病史和急性脑震荡效应均与年轻成年运动员皮质体积的变化无关。
