Biochemistry Of Brain Injury Mechanism
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Even though the brain, which is encased in the skull, is attached to the spinal cord, it can still move around to a certain extent in the space within the skull. However, the brain is extremely delicate, and to give it protection from being damaged when it touches the spiny edges of the skull, there is a protective layer of cerebrospinal fluid. |
This fluid surrounds the brain, and is more of a cushioning barrier when the brain comes in contact with the hard spiny surface of the skull. However, sometimes the brain can be injured if a person is involved in an accident, his head is shaken vigorously, he suffers from a hard blow to the skull or any similar incident. The delicate tissue of the brain ends up being rotated and damaged within the skull leading to brain injury.
In a brain injury, the brain can get hurt. The hurt can be in the form of bruising, stretching, ripping or being torn. These injuries will result in bleeding within the brain tissue, swelling of the brain and/or bruising of the brain. These, of course, are dependent on the extent of the brain injury. Sometimes, the brain is able to recover without any apparent problems; while at other times, the person sustaining the brain injury may have serious problems lasting a lifetime.
When it comes to biochemistry of brain injury mechanism, the extent of the damage is usually done through clinical assessment and neuroimaging techniques. In addition, the neuro-surgeon may also adopt other methods like electrophysiology, hemodynamic monitoring or neuro monitoring. All these methods allow the healthcare professional to see how the brain is functioning and what course of treatment should be adopted.
Unfortunately, although the methods of diagnosing brain injury trauma are quite advanced, they are not enough for evaluating and finding out the extent of the injury. And, therefore, these methods are insufficient for treating and giving a prognosis. That is why more and more neurophysicians and neurosurgeons are resorting to biochemistry of brain injury mechanism.
The healthcare professionals look for certain biochemical markers that tell about the damage to the brain cells, and use these markers to diagnose and monitor the injury. Biochemical markers like lactate dehydrogenase, neuron-specific enolase and creatine kinase are the ones that that the doctors look for. Of late, even glial markers are being used to understand the biochemistry of brain injury. Glial markers include myelin basic protein, S-100B protein and glial fibrillary acidic protein which can all be measured with a blood test.
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