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Updated: May 8, 2026
Investigations on Alterations of Hippocampal Circuit Function Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: November 19, 2012
Changes in intrinsic functional brain networks following blast-induced mild traumatic brain injury
Andrei A Vakhtin1, Vince D Calhoun, Rex E Jung
1Department of Neurology, Health Sciences Center, University of New Mexico , Albuquerque, NM , USA .
Objective:
Blast-induced mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) commonly go undetected by computed tomography and conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This study was used to investigate functional brain network abnormalities in a group of blast-induced mTBI subjects using independent component analysis (ICA) of resting state functional MRI (fMRI) data.
Methods:
Twenty-eight resting state networks of 13 veterans who sustained blast-induced mTBI were compared with healthy controls across three fMRI domains: blood oxygenation level-dependent spatial maps, time course spectra and functional connectivity.
Results:
The mTBI group exhibited hyperactivity in the temporo-parietal junctions and hypoactivity in the left inferior temporal gyrus. Abnormal frequencies in default-mode (DMN), sensorimotor, attentional and frontal networks were detected. In addition, functional connectivity was disrupted in six network pairs: DMN-basal ganglia, attention-sensorimotor, frontal-DMN, attention-sensorimotor, attention-frontal and sensorimotor-sensorimotor.
Conclusions:
The results suggest white matter disruption across certain attentional networks. Additionally, given their elevated activity relative to controls', the temporo-parietal junctions of blast mTBI subjects may be compensating for diffuse axonal injury in other cortical regions.
