University of Pennsylvania has won funding for a study of a concussion treatment for athletes.
Dr. Peter LeRoux, associate professor of neurosurgery, won the $250,000, three-year Dana Foundation Clinical Neuroscience grant.
Dr. Akiva S. Cohen is an associate professor of neurology, neurosurgery and pediatrics at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Cohen and his team found that giving three branched-chain amino acids — leucine, isoleucine and valine — to animals with brain injuries could restore the balance of neurochemicals in the injured portion of the brain and help restore cognitive abilities following an injury, a statement from the university said.
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BCAAs are needed to produce two neurotransmitters — glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA. The neurotransmitters work together to keep up the right balance of brain activity. Glutamate excites neurons and stimulates them to fire and GABA inhibits the firing. If that balance is undermined and creates too much excitement or too little, the brain doesn’t function properly, the statement said.
The grant will expand that research to athletes. LeRoux will work with Cohen and Penn neurology resident Matthew Kirschen to investigate dietary BCAAs in patients being treated for sports concussions.
Concussion tests and care for concussions have been a significant trend in healthcare and medical device development in recent years as awareness of the long-term effects from concussions from school and professional athletics, as well as brain injuries stemming from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq has increased.
The Cleveland Clinic is working on several concussion-related projects such as a blood test and an app to aid doctors and athletic trainers in diagnosing concussions. Infrascan, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, recently won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to market its handheld medical device to detect brain bleeds from head trauma.
