Brain injury due to motor vehicle accidents, falls, and sports
accidents, among other reasons, affects nearly two million
people every year, with related deaths claiming more than
56,000, according to the Brain Injury Association. Despite this,
how the brain responds to injury -- in terms of the cellular
cascade that leads to cell death -- is poorly understood.
Looking at a particular pattern of cell death called apoptosis,
or programmed cell death, researchers at the University of
Pennsylvania Medical Center have discovered that in a rat model
this kind of deleterious cellular destruction continues for
weeks after the initial trauma. "We hope that by understanding
the molecular and cellular sequences of events after trauma,
we'll be able to ascertain when and where cells die in the brain
and use that information to develop new therapeutic strategies
to treat injury," says Tracy K. McIntosh, PhD, professor of
neurosurgery, bioengineering, and pharmacology. These insights
could also apply to treating stroke, s