Tag Archives: TBI

Antioxidant-like carbon nanoparticles could help heal traumatic brain injuries

The research sounds exciting but all of the testing has taken place in laboratories on animal models (rats). The Oct. 18, 2012 news item on Azonano describes why the research team wanted to test  antioxidant-like carbon nanotubes for use with traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients,

Thomas Kent, James Tour and colleagues explain that TBI disrupts the supply of oxygen-rich blood to the brain. With the brain so oxygen-needy — accounting for only 2 percent of a person’s weight, but claiming 20 percent of the body’s oxygen supply — even a mild injury, such as a concussion, can have serious consequences. Reduced blood flow and resuscitation result in a build-up of free-radicals, which can kill brain cells. Despite years of far-ranging efforts, no effective treatment has emerged for TBI. That’s why the scientists tried a new approach, based on nanoparticles so small that 1000 would fit across the width of a human hair.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) Oct. 17, 2912 news release, which originated the news item, provides a few details about the research,

They [the research team]  describe development and successful laboratory tests of nanoparticles, called PEG-HCCs. In laboratory rats, the nanoparticles acted like antioxidants, rapidly restoring blood flow to the brain following resuscitation after TBI. “This finding is of major importance for improving patient health under clinically relevant conditions during resuscitative care, and it has direct implications for the current [TBI] war-fighter victims in the Afghanistan and Middle East theaters,” they say.

The abstract for the paper gives more insight,

Injury to the neurovasculature is a feature of brain injury and must be addressed to maximize opportunity for improvement. Cerebrovascular dysfunction, manifested by reduction in cerebral blood flow (CBF), is a key factor that worsens outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI), most notably under conditions of hypotension. We report here that a new class of antioxidants, poly(ethylene glycol)-functionalized hydrophilic carbon clusters (PEG-HCCs), which are nontoxic carbon particles, rapidly restore CBF in a mild TBI/hypotension/resuscitation rat model when administered during resuscitation—a clinically relevant time point. Along with restoration of CBF, there is a concomitant normalization of superoxide and nitric oxide levels. Given the role of poor CBF in determining outcome, this finding is of major importance for improving patient health under clinically relevant conditions during resuscitative care, and it has direct implications for the current TBI/hypotension war-fighter victims in the Afghanistan and Middle East theaters. The results also have relevancy in other related acute circumstances such as stroke and organ transplantation.

I notice this treatment has shown some success for mildTBI/hypotension if applied in the resuscitation phase and the testing, as I mentioned earlier, has been done on rats. For anyone who wants more information about this promising treatment,

Antioxidant Carbon Particles Improve Cerebrovascular Dysfunction Following Traumatic Brain Injury by Brittany R. Bitner, Daniela C. Marcano, Jacob M. Berlin, Roderic H. Fabian, Leela Cherian, James C. Culver, Mary E. Dickinson, Claudia S. Robertson, Robia G. Pautler, Thomas A. Kent, and James M. Tour. ACS Nano, 2012, 6 (9), pp 8007–8014 DOI: 10.1021/nn302615f

The article is behind a paywall and I notice it was published online Aug. 6, 2012. It looks like the ACS may may have tried to publicize this at the time of publication and decided to try again now in the hope of getting more publicity for this work.