Even if this time was not as long as that of the investigation of Stieger et al.'s [37], this protracted period allowed to confirm brain death over time and opened to the long-term pathophysiological sequelae of brain death adding to the clinical relevance of the model.
Although these studies demonstrate the acute initiation of apoptosis in human brain after injury, protracted apoptosis also occurs.
This brain region undergoes protracted structural and functional development during adolescence (Giedd et al., 1999; Giedd & Rapoport, 2010; Gogtay et al., 2004).
It's complete mayhem and, reader, I confess that I enjoyed every minute of this ear-splitting, brain-jarring, inordinately protracted cataclysm – even though something similar, if on a far smaller scale, occurred a bit more than 10 years ago, six blocks from my home.
But the Institute of Medicine report emphasizes that for young athletes, it's not just the sport that dictates concussion risk; as they mature, players' skill, speed, gender and brain development all influence the likelihood of brain injury and of a protracted, difficult recovery.
Results from large magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies looking at brain development across the lifespan indicate that brain regions involved in social cognition undergo protracted development throughout adolescence.
It remains to be determined if the survival and differentiation rates are different in adult mouse brains after IR, given the protracted inflammatory reaction.
There is thus evidence that protracted structural development is associated with more mature brain activation patterns, both of which appear to predict cognitive maturation.
In most types of acute brain injury there is a significant and protracted inflammatory response in the hours following the acute event, whether this is ischemic, traumatic, or a combination of both.
