Citation

Bonnette S, Diekfuss JA, Kiefer AW, Riley MA, Barber Foss KD, Thomas S, Dicesare CA, Yuan W, Dudley J, Reches A, Myer GD. Exp. Brain Res. 2018; 236(10): 2691-2701.

Affiliation

The Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention, Waltham, MA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00221-018-5328-x

PMID

29987537

Abstract

Exposure to explosive blasts places one at risk for traumatic brain injury, especially for special weapons and tactics (SWAT) and military personnel, who may be repeatedly exposed to blasts. In the current study, the effectiveness of a jugular vein compression collar to prevent alterations in resting-state electrocortical activity following a single-SWAT breacher training session was investigated. SWAT team personnel were randomly assigned to wear a compression collar during breacher training and resting state electroencephalography (EEG) was measured within 2 days prior to and two after breacher training. It was hypothesized that significant changes in brain dynamics-indicative of possible underlying neurodegenerative processes-would follow blast exposure for those who did not wear the collar, with ameliorated changes for the collar-wearing group. Using recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) it was found that participants who did not wear the collar displayed longer periods of laminar electrocortical behavior (as indexed by RQA's vertical max line measure) after breacher training. It is proposed that the blast wave exposure for the no-collar group may have reduced the number of pathways, via axonal disruption-for electrical transmission-resulting in the EEG signals becoming trapped in laminar states for longer periods of time. Longer laminar states have been associated with other electrocortical pathologies, such as seizure, and may be important for understanding head trauma and recovery.

Language: en

Keywords

Electroencephalography (EEG); Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI); Recurrence quantification analysis (RQA); Special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team; Spontaneous activity