Traumatic brain injury

Explore traumatic brain injury (TBI) and access the tools you need to support your research.

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Contents

• What is traumatic brain injury?
• Importance of biomarkers in TBI
• Professor Kaj Blennow on the role of biomarkers in TBI and acute neuronal injury research
• Recombinant monoclonal antibodies for TBI research
• ELISA kits for TBI research
• References

What is traumatic brain injury?​​

TBI pathogenesis is a complex process that affects millions of individuals around the world. TBI typically originates from an initial injury, related directly to an external impact to the brain, and followed by the gradual development of secondary pathogenesis. The secondary pathogenesis consists of a molecular, chemical, and inflammatory cascade, involving the release of excitatory neurotransmitters, and results in either temporary or permanent neurological deficits.¹

​Importance of biomarkers in TBI

The complex pathophysiology of TBI hinders the development of rapid biofluid-based diagnostic tests for the management of patients with TBI, including those in the intensive care unit or emergency room. Axonal injury is the most common type of brain injury due to the extended length of axonal fiber tracts. However, TBI-induced damage may affect neuronal bodies, dendrites, and synapses as well as other types of neural cells such as astroglial cells and oligodendrocytes. Therefore, a panel of neuronal injury biomarkers may be a potential solution to access multi-component pathology of the brain injury.²

Biomarkers in traumatic brain injury and acute neuronal damage

Learn more about the role of biomarkers in TBI and acute neuronal injury research from Professor Kaj Blennow, chief physician at the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg. Prof. Blennow talks us through promising biomarkers (GFAP, UCHL1, S100B, NFL) that can identify neuronal damage and predict outcomes after the concussion. He further focuses on neurofilament light (NFL) biomarker and highlights that the NFL can potentially serve as a blood biomarker for acute neuronal damage.

​​​Blood biomarkers for TBI and acute neuronal injury may have several clinical applications: to diagnose neuronal injuries after concussions in sports and to predict outcomes after TBI or cardiac arrest, accompanied by hypoxic brain injury.

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​​Recombinant monoclonal antibodies for TBI research​

Get reproducible, batch-to-batch consistency using recombinant monoclonal antibodies for your TBI research. These are some of our best-selling products. 

ELISA kits for TBI research

Our ELISA kits are sensitive, reliable and suitable for a wide range of samples, including plasma, cerebrospinal fluid, and tissue extract. Our SimpleStep ELISA^® kits allow you to achieve results within 90-minutes.

• Human BDNF ELISA Kit (ab212166)
• S100B ELISA Kit (ab234573)
• Mouse UCHL1 ELISA Kit (ab235641)
• Human GFAP ELISA Kit (ab223867)
• Human Tau ELISA kit (ab210972)
• Human NSE ELISA kit (ab217778)
• Human H-FABP ELISA kit (ab243682)
• Human IL-10 ELISA kit (ab185986)

Check out our FirePlex Human Key Cytokines - Immunoassay Panel (ab243549), which contains recombinant monoclonal antibodies against key human cytokines and allows you to run a 17-plex assay.

References

1. Galgano, M., et al. Traumatic brain injury: current treatment strategies and future endeavors. Cell Transplant. 26, 1118–1130 (2017).
2. Wang, K.K., Yang, Z., Zhu, T., et al. An update on diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for traumatic brain injury. Expert Rev Mol Diagn.18,165–180 (2018).
3. Song, M., Martinowich, K., Lee, F.S. BDNF at the synapse: why location matters. Mol Psychiatry. 22, 1370–1375 (2017).
4. Keith, D. & El-Husseini, A. Excitation control: balancing PSD-95 function at the synapse. Front. Mol. Neurosci. 1: 4 (2008).