“Seeing” and Treating Traumatic Brain Injury in Mice

The biology that underlies long-term sequelae of traumatic brain injury is poorly understood; consequently, treatments are only partially successful. A team from the NIH developed a technique by which they could visualize the meninges and brain parenchyma of living mice through a microscope. They report that acute brain injury first causes production of reactive oxygen species, meningeal cell death, and vascular injury that spreads into the brain parenchyma. This is followed by an inflammatory response that leads to healing.

The team also discovered that when certain small molecules are applied to the intact skull at the area of injury, they are able to penetrate the skull and reach the meninges and parenchyma. The researchers continuously a…