[globaltaxrevolt] UNDERSTANDING BRAIN INJURIES

Bioengineers at Harvard have explained how the blast of an exploding bomb can translate into subtly disastrous injuries in the nerve cells and blood vessels of the brain. These results have been a long time coming. So many young men and women are returning from military service with brain injuries, and physicians just don't know how to help them. http://venitism.blogspot.com/

When the brain encounters a jarring force, such as an exploding roadside bomb, its delicate tissue slams against the skull. The result, if the patient survives, can be a temporary concussion, a more dangerous hemorrhage, or long-term traumatic brain injury (TBI), which can lead to the early onset of Parkinson's or Alzheimer's diseases.

Researchers at Harvard have identified the cellular mechanism that initiates diffuse axonal injury, offering urgently needed direction for research in therapeutic treatments. Their studies show that integrins, receptor proteins embedded in the cell membrane, provide the crucial link between external forces and internal physiological changes.
Integrins connect the structural components within the cell (such as actin and other cytoskeletal proteins) with the extracellular matrix that binds cells together into tissue. Collectively, this network of structural and signaling components is referred to as the focal adhesion complex. The forces unleashed by an explosion physically disrupt the structure of the focal adhesion complex, setting off a chain reaction of destructive molecular signals within the nerve cells of the brain. http://venitism.blogspot.com/
Inside the neuron, integrins normally mediate the activation of the proteins RhoA and Rho kinase (ROCK). When the focal adhesion complex is disturbed, the Rho-ROCK signaling pathway goes haywire, and it directs the motor protein actin to retract the cell's armlike axons, disconnecting the neurons from each other and collapsing the cellular networks that constitute the brain
Abrupt mechanical forces, such as those from a blast wave and transduced by integrins, can result in neural injury. Treating the neural tissue with HA-1077, which is a ROCK inhibitor, within the first 10 minutes of injury, reduces the number of focal swellings. Further study of ROCK inhibition will lead to viable treatments soon.