The science behind CTE in athletes and veterans
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Transcript
LAUREN WOLF: A little knocking heads is just part of the game for football players and other athletes, right? Well, doctors are taking a closer look at what happens after years and years of this. They've uncovered a brain disorder in some athletes who've bumped their heads over and over again. We'll show you what scientists think is happening.
Hey, there everyone. Lauren here. It's football season. And in between checking your fantasy teams, you might be hearing about something called chronic traumatic "insufalufa--" "encephala--" chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Whew, that's a mouthful! Let's just call it CTE. CTE is a brain disorder. The symptoms include memory loss, depression, and aggressive or violent behavior. Some high-profile athletes like boxers, NFL players, and professional wrestlers have been getting diagnosed with CTE.
The trouble is that the diagnoses came after they were already dead. That's when a pathologist can slice open the brain and find the telltale signs of CTE. Doctors might be able to intervene though if CTE could be diagnosed while a person is still alive. So researchers are now starting up long-term studies of athletes, plus people like military veterans involved in repetitive bomb blasts.
A major part of the studies will be brain scans for two reasons-- one, scientists can look at structural changes in the brain over time. And two, they can look for a hallmark of CTE-- something called aggregated tau protein. Now tau protein helps stabilize the scaffolding of nerve cells.
When a person gets knocked in the head, tau protein breaks off from the scaffolding. Neuroscientists aren't sure why that happens, but they do know that tau clumps together. And then nerve cells start to malfunction. And when tau aggregates spread throughout the brain, nerve cells die.
So researchers want to see these tau aggregates while a person is still alive. So they're designing small molecules that stick to the tiny clumps. These molecules emit what's called positron radiation, which can be picked up on a scanner. In this way scientists can map tau formation in the brain, and they can get an idea of who might be developing CTE before symptoms show up.
Doctors still don't know who's susceptible to CTE, how many times a person needs to get hit in the head to get it, or even how many people out there now have it. They're hoping these new studies will get them to a first down in the drive for treatment.
Hey, there everyone. Lauren here. It's football season. And in between checking your fantasy teams, you might be hearing about something called chronic traumatic "insufalufa--" "encephala--" chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Whew, that's a mouthful! Let's just call it CTE. CTE is a brain disorder. The symptoms include memory loss, depression, and aggressive or violent behavior. Some high-profile athletes like boxers, NFL players, and professional wrestlers have been getting diagnosed with CTE.
The trouble is that the diagnoses came after they were already dead. That's when a pathologist can slice open the brain and find the telltale signs of CTE. Doctors might be able to intervene though if CTE could be diagnosed while a person is still alive. So researchers are now starting up long-term studies of athletes, plus people like military veterans involved in repetitive bomb blasts.
A major part of the studies will be brain scans for two reasons-- one, scientists can look at structural changes in the brain over time. And two, they can look for a hallmark of CTE-- something called aggregated tau protein. Now tau protein helps stabilize the scaffolding of nerve cells.
When a person gets knocked in the head, tau protein breaks off from the scaffolding. Neuroscientists aren't sure why that happens, but they do know that tau clumps together. And then nerve cells start to malfunction. And when tau aggregates spread throughout the brain, nerve cells die.
So researchers want to see these tau aggregates while a person is still alive. So they're designing small molecules that stick to the tiny clumps. These molecules emit what's called positron radiation, which can be picked up on a scanner. In this way scientists can map tau formation in the brain, and they can get an idea of who might be developing CTE before symptoms show up.
Doctors still don't know who's susceptible to CTE, how many times a person needs to get hit in the head to get it, or even how many people out there now have it. They're hoping these new studies will get them to a first down in the drive for treatment.
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