Prospective study of the effects of sport-related concussion on serum kynurenine pathway metabolites.

Prospective study of the effects of sport-related concussion on serum kynurenine pathway metabolites. Brain Behav Immun. 2020 Mar 05;: Authors: Meier TB, Nitta ME, Kent Teague T, Nelson LD, McCrea MA, Savitz J Abstract Reports of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disease in former athletes have increased public concern about the acute and chronic effects of sport-related concussions (SRC). The biological factors underlying individual differences in the psychiatric sequalae of SRC and their role in potential long-term negative outcomes have not been determined. One understudied biological consequence of the known inflammatory response to concussion is the activation of a key immunoregulatory pathway, the kynurenine pathway (KP). Activation of the KP produces several neuroactive metabolites that have been associated with psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. We tested the hypothesis that SRC results in an elevation of serum KP metabolites with neurotoxic properties (quinolinic acid [QuinA], 3-hydroxykynurenine [3HK]) together with a reduction in the neuroprotective metabolite kynurenic acid (KynA), and that these metabolites would predict post-concussion psychological symptoms. Additionally, because brain injury is thought to prime the immune system, a secondary goal was to test the hypothesis that athletes with acute SRC and a history of prior SRC would have elevated neurotoxic relative to neuroprotective KP metabolites compared...
Source: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Brain Behav Immun Source Type: research