Researchers Uncover Hidden Damage in the Human Brain from IED Blasts

Scientists have discovered that combat veterans suffer from brain damage long after blasts from improvised explosive devices (IEDs). They've found that these blasts can cause a distinctive honeycomb pattern of broken and swollen nerve fibers throughout critical brain regions, including those that control executive function.

"This is the first time the tools of modern pathology have been used to look at a 100-year-old problem: the lingering effect of blasts on the brain," said Vassilis Koliatsos, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We identified a pattern of tiny wounds, or lesions, that we think may be the signature of blast injury. The location and extent of these lesions may help explain why some veterans who survive IED attacks have problems putting their lives back together."

Soldiers have struggled with bomb-induced brain damage since 1914, when German and Allied forces tried to blast one another out of entrenched positions with months-long bombardments. Yet it's recently re-emerged due to insurgent forces' widespread use of IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In order to better understand the impacts to the human brain, the scientists studied the brains of five male United States military veterans who survived IED attacks but later died. More specifically, the researchers used a molecular marker to track a protein called APP that normally travels from one nerve cell to another via a long nerve fiber, or axon. When axons are broken by an injury, APP and other proteins accumulate at the breaks, causing swelling.

So what did the researchers find? The axonal bulbs were medium-sized and usually arrayed in a honeycomb pattern near blood vessels. However, the brains didn't show signs of the neurodegerative disease known as punch-drunk syndrome. That said, near the damaged axons, they found specialized cells called microglia that are involved in brain inflammation.

The findings reveal a bit more about the challenges that face veterans. This, in turn, could allow researchers to better treat IED survivors in the future.

The findings are published in the journal Acta Neuropathologica Communications.

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