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Updated: May 20, 2026

Low-intensity Blast Wave Model for Preclinical Assessment of Closed-head Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Rodents
Published on: November 6, 2020
Neuropathology of explosive blast traumatic brain injury
John Magnuson1, Fabio Leonessa, Geoffrey S F Ling
1Department of Neuroscience, Uniformed Services University, 4301 Jones Bridge Rd, Bethesda, MD 20814-4799, USA.
Abstract:
During the conflicts of the Global War on Terror, which are Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), there have been over a quarter of a million diagnosed cases of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The vast majority are due to explosive blast. Although explosive blast TBI (bTBI) shares many clinical features with closed head TBI (cTBI) and penetrating TBI (pTBI), it has unique features, such as early cerebral edema and prolonged cerebral vasospasm. Evolving work suggests that diffuse axonal injury (DAI) seen following explosive blast exposure is different than DAI from focal impact injury. These unique features support the notion that bTBI is a separate and distinct form of TBI. This review summarizes the current state of knowledge pertaining to bTBI. Areas of discussion are: the physics of explosive blast generation, blast wave interaction with the bony calvarium and brain tissue, gross tissue pathophysiology, regional brain injury, and cellular and molecular mechanisms of explosive blast neurotrauma.
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