Blood Test Gives Early Warning to Brain Injury

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new test that detects fragments of broken brain cells that leak into the bloodstream may help doctors quickly detect and treat people with severe head injuries or brain diseases.

"The important thing about this work is that we can easily monitor the release of an axonal protein into serum for the first time," Dr. Gerry Shaw from the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville told Reuters Health.

"It is useful to know this as you can decide whether an accident victim has a serious brain or spinal cord injury quickly without performing MRI, X-rays etc., and you should also be able tell if diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, or Alzheimer's are in their early, presymptomatic, stages."

Using their blood test, Shaw and colleagues observed that a brain protein called NF-H is readily detected in "surprisingly large amounts" in the blood of rats following experimentally induced spinal cord injury and, in smaller but still significant amounts, in rats given experimental traumatic brain injury.

Since this protein is only found in axons -- nerve fibers that help brain cells communicate -- this indicates that axonal injury must have occurred, Shaw noted.

The discovery, reported in the current online issue of Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, could lead to tests for the clinic or battlefield to diagnose ailments with just a few drops of blood, bypassing more cumbersome, time-consuming, and expensive tests such as brain scans.

For example, shaken-soldier syndrome is a traumatic brain injury that can occur when a soldier survives a roadside blast, Dr. Douglas Anderson from the McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida who participated in the research explains. "In patients who are unconscious but with no penetrating head wounds, it would be extremely helpful for emergency medical technicians to test for a marker to see how severe the injuries are. Then perhaps something can be done early on," he said in a statement.

SOURCE: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications October 2005.