Nat Commun: Watch out! Even mild brain damage can seriously damage the brain's ability to remove toxins.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects millions of people worldwide each year, especially in sports and the military.
trauma can lead to injuries in motor function, cognition, sensory function and mental health.
addition, there is growing evidence that TBI history significantly increases the risk of developing a variety of other neurological disorders later in life, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy, Alzheimer's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
, it is not clear whether meninges lymphatic dysfunction works in TBI.
even mild brain damage can seriously damage the brain's ability to remove toxins, which can lead to Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, according to a new study published in Nature Communications by the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
, some patients are at greater risk of brain function decline later in life.
specifically, the researchers used TBI's mildly closed skull model mice to study the effects on meninges' lymphatic function after TBI.
TBI, the average recovery time for injured mice was 300 s after injury, while the average recovery time for fake surgery mice was 30 s.
Although this mild injury does not immediately lead to obvious behavioral defects such as balance, motion coordination, reflexes, and astuteness, meninges' lymphatic drainability is significantly impaired one month after TBI.
findings suggest that even mild TBI can cause meninges lymphatic dysfunction, which lasts up to a month after injury.
TBI causes damage to the meninges' lymphatic drain, TBI also induces morphological changes in the meninges' lymphatic tubes.
TBI mice showed a significant increase in the number of lymphatic vasculature loops and sprouts in the week after the injury, as well as an increase in the diameter of the lymphatic tube, which continued into the second two weeks after the TBI.
month or two after the injury, many of these indicators of lymphatic tube production have returned to baseline levels, but the number of lymphatic tube rings has increased significantly and it will take longer to return to pre-injury levels.
TBI causes changes in the vascular morphology of the meninges lymphatic tubes because the meninges lymphatic tubes are not related to smooth muscles and are therefore particularly susceptible to changes in pressure and brain swelling in the fixed skull.
researchers found that the pressure applied to the tiny lymphatic tubes in the brain severely impaired the brain's ability to remove toxins, and that the damage continued for a long time.
in mouse models showed that even when the pressure returned to normal at 24 hours, the lymphatic tube draination decreased for an extended period of time.
note that people who have previously experienced brain damage or have meninges lymphatic dysfunction may experience more serious consequences if they suffer TBI again.
in mice, the injury led to more severe neuro-inflammation and cognitive decline.
This study provides good evidence that if you haven't recovered from a brain injury and your head is hit again, you face more serious consequences," said Dr. John Lukens of the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Virginia and the Center for Brain Immunology and Neuroglia.
if the wound is not cured, the risk of long-term consequences for patients will increase significantly.
may not be seen in a year, but it may be seen in the coming decades.
"Previous lymphatic defects can lead to increased inflammation caused by TBI and decreased cognitive ability," the researchers found that enhancing meninges' lymphatic function after TBI may help reduce nerve inflammation.
After the delivery of VEGF-C in the meninges lymphatic tubes of older mice (previously shown to be successful in increasing the diameter of the meninges lymphatic tubes), the recovery of meninges lymphatic draination in aging mice improved TBI-induced neuroglial cell growth.
VEGF-C treatment of elderly mice can reduce post-TBI neuro-inflammation Dr. Lukens believes that doctors may one day be able to use drugs to regenerate damaged lymphatic tubes, improving the patient's prognosis and avoiding long-term consequences.
may also be useful in the fight against cognitive decline, which occurs naturally with age.
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