Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Brain Following Repetitive Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

<p>Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are a common form of head injury, with mild TBIs (mTBIs) making up 75-90% of the TBI severity scale. It’s been suggested that repetitive mild TBIs (rmTBIs) may enhance effects of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). With dementia linking TBI and AD together, we investigated the memory hub of the brain - the hippocampus. Astrocytes and microglia are two glial cells that respond to neuroinflammation and therefore imaged in hippocampal regions of the 3xTg-AD mouse brain. We hypothesized that AD brain pathology (i.e., neuroinflammation) would be accelerated in 3xTg-AD mice following rmTBIs early in life. Analyses revealed that rmTBIs didn’t enhance the extent of gliosis in AD mice. We conclude that an increased risk of neurodegeneration is not a predetermined outcome from rmTBIs early in life. A future investigation of the expression of specific receptors (e.g., TREM2) and neuronal loss can better illustrate the role of glial cells.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S. in Biological Sciences

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Year

2024

Author dc:creator

• Almuhanna, Lujain

Contributors dc:contributor

• Daniel A. Linseman
• J. Todd Blankenship
• Ann M. Wehman

• Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• Alzheimer's disease
• Dementia
• Biology
• Cell and Developmental Biology
• Cell Biology
• Life Sciences
• Medicine and Health Sciences
• Trauma

Statement dc:rights

• <p>Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.</p>

Language dc:language

English (eng)

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2417

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.du.edu:etd-3411