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microRNA in the blood of football players indicated a brain injury when playing with the head
Anastasia Kuznetsova-Fantoni, N+1
Scientists from five countries have found out that when football players play with their heads, the content of microRNAs in the blood increases, which are associated with protecting cells from inflammation. Researchers believe that this is how the brain tries to protect neurons from the effects of injury. To find out, doctors analyzed blood samples of 89 professional football players in three conditions: after a head injury, hitting the ball with his head, as well as during intensive training. The work is published in Brain Injury (Changes in circulating microRNAs following head impacts in soccer).
microRNAs are small non—coding RNAs that regulate gene expression. Their action is associated with immune reactions, differentiation and apoptosis of cells both in normal and in pathologies. It is precisely because microRNAs can be detected in the blood in some diseases that scientists have begun to consider some of them biomarkers of pathologies.
Neurologists suggest considering circulating microRNAs as a marker of mild traumatic brain injury. Scientists believe that microRNAs are released from cells when they are damaged or ischemic to the brain, cross the blood-brain barrier and so appear in the blood.
Researchers from Germany, Canada, Norway, Slovakia and the USA led by Stian Bahr Sandmo from The Norwegian School of Sports Sciences decided to test how the levels of microRNAs in the blood of football players change, who often get hit on the head with a ball during matches, and also intentionally hit the ball with their head. To do this, doctors took blood from 89 professional football players of the Norwegian Premier League. The tests were taken an hour and 12 hours after the following events: a blow to the head during a match, a head game, intense physical exertion (to distinguish the effect of a blow from the effect of increased exertion). Also, blood samples from athletes were taken before matches during rest — this was how the background level of microRNA was assessed.
After a blow to the head during a match, the levels of eight microRNAs in the blood of the players changed, and such changes were not due to physical exertion. These microRNAs were found to be associated with signaling pathways regulating chromatin organization, neuron regeneration, and cell death.
After the head game, the content of six other microRNAs associated with the signaling pathway of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) increased in the blood of football players. It controls cell proliferation, differentiation and immune response. High levels of this protein in the cerebrospinal fluid are associated with traumatic brain injury, so researchers believe that it is produced in football players in order to protect cells from inflammation when damaged.
microRNA analysis in the future may make it possible to classify head injuries by severity, as well as by type of injury (concussion, bruise), but first the informativeness of such a method still needs to be confirmed in new studies.
Scientists often analyze how the brain of football players functions. For example, when executing a penalty. Neurophysiologists have found out that when penalty kicks are executed in conditions of psychological stress, the prefrontal cortex is activated, which is responsible for planning actions.
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