For example, a researcher may study blunt impacts with a neuronal cell culture model that is the depth of the cortical layer.
The researcher subjects this to different impact sizes, shapes, and forces to see how cells react and what cytokines they release.
[2] TBI occurs when neurons in the brain experience stresses and strains that exceed their threshold for elastic deformation.
This, in turn, means that a person experiencing multiple TBIs in a similar area suffers the culmination of all previous injuries, possibly up to four times the initial damage.
[5] In addition to the physical stresses and strains that neurons experience during TBI, cell-cell interactions also contribute to the damage, primarily due to the formation of a glial scar.
Neurons release cytokines during TBI that have a variety of effects, including summoning astrocytes to the afflicted area.
[6] Once they arrive, the astrocytes begin to generate more cytoskeletal structures until the damaged region is completely sealed.
These injuries are most commonly found on the battlefield,[8] as explosions occur close enough to humans that the high intensity waves apply stresses and strains that greatly surpass neuron elastic thresholds.
Even very short blast waves with high intensity can cause immediate cell death, even through the cerebrospinal fluid buffer.
Blast-Induced damage is not localized to a specific region due to its wave nature, and can penetrate deep into the brain before finally subsiding, depending on the blast intensity and proximity.
Many experiments have been conducted in attempts to create a general model for the mechanical tolerance of neurons within the Central Nervous System (CNS).
While this gives a better understanding of the reactions to TBI as a whole, in vivo models have many effects that are not solely due to the injury.
in vivo TBI models, including rats, mice, zebrafish, or drosophila offer easy access to a living brain that can be analyzed.
These could increase the stress and strain thresholds for neurons, or perhaps present modeling will lead to methods for healing the brain altogether.
The extremely small size and high variance of nanoparticles create countless possibilities for the future of not only TBI, but science in general.