1. Reduced Neuron-Specific Enolase Levels in Chronic Severe Traumatic Brain Injury
- Author
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Sergio Bagnato, Teresa Barone, Giuseppe Galardi, Maria Andriolo, Caterina Pistarini, Antonio De Tanti, Lucia Francesca Lucca, and Cristina Boccagni
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,030506 rehabilitation ,Traumatic brain injury ,Enolase ,macromolecular substances ,Young Adult ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Brain Injuries, Traumatic ,medicine ,Humans ,business.industry ,Neurodegeneration ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Pathophysiology ,nervous system ,Phosphopyruvate Hydratase ,Female ,Neurology (clinical) ,0305 other medical science ,business ,Neuroscience ,Biomarkers ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Growing evidence suggests that pathophysiological mechanisms leading to neurodegeneration and neuronal loss take place during the chronic phase of a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). In this study we evaluated a well-established marker of brain injury, the neuron-specific enolase (NSE), in the serum of 51 patients with severe TBI (86% males, mean age 33.8 ± 11.1 years). All patients' samples were available from a previous study and the mean time between TBI and blood sample collection was 23.2 ± 31.5 months (28 patients were evaluated within 12 months of TBI and 23 patients were evaluated ≥12 months after TBI). Patients' NSE levels were compared with those obtained from 30 age and sex-matched healthy controls (87% males, 33.7 ± 11.3 years). We found that NSE levels were significantly lower in patients (median 3.2 ng/mL; 25th, 75th percentile 2.5, 5.1) than in healthy controls (median 4.1 ng/mL; 25th, 75th percentile 3.1, 7.5) (
- Published
- 2020