A study recently published in the Journal of Neurotrauma suggests the possibility of blood biomarkers as indicators of brain damage after a traumatic brain injury (TBI).
According to a news release from Mary Ann Liebert Inc/Genetic Engineering News, the study suggests that the levels of two proteins present in blood and cerebrospinal fluid increased significantly at different time points following (TBI), reportedly confirming their potential value as biomarkers of trauma-related brain damage.
The release explains that Xian-jian Huang and coauthors measured the levels of ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1), a protein specific to neurons, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a brain-specific protein made mainly by astrocytes in the blood and cerebral spinal fluid of rats that did and did not experience TBI.
Measurements taken 2 days before injury and at 3, 6, and 24 hours after TBI showed significant differences in UCH-L1 and GFAP levels at different time points in injured versus noninjured animals, the release continues.
“These studies are important not only from the basic science but also the clinical perspective,” says John T. Povlishock, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Neurotrauma and professor, Medical College of Virginia Campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, in the release.
“The studies confirm the importance of GFAP as well as UCH-L1 as biomarkers for the detection of the consequences of TBI, particularly as they relate to neuronal and glial perturbation,” he continues in the release.
[Source(s): Mary Ann Liebert Inc/Genetic Engineering News, EurekAlert]
