Blood-brain barrier disruption, traumatic encephalopathy, and cognitive decline in retired athletes - PubMed
6 hours ago
- #Chronic traumatic encephalopathy
- #Blood-brain barrier
- #Cognitive decline
- Blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption is detectable years after retirement in combat and collision sports athletes.
- Extensive BBB disruption is linked to worse cognitive decline in retired athletes.
- Systemic inflammatory burden and higher circulating monocytes are associated with cognitive decline.
- Transcriptomic analysis shows dysregulation of the complement system and vascular developmental pathways in peripheral immune cells.
- Altered expression of complement receptors (C5AR1, ITGAM, ITGB2, CD59) is linked to BBB disruption and cognitive decline.
- Postmortem CTE cases show membrane attack complex (MAC) deposition around cerebral blood vessels.
- Microglia-endothelial cross-talk may mediate complement dysregulation in CTE.
- Sustained systemic inflammation and persistent BBB disruption are associated with long-term outcomes of repetitive head trauma.