Louis Goldberg
Research Mentor(s): Kanagaraj Palsamy
Mentor Department: Neurology
Authors:
Session: Session 4 (1:00pm – 1:50pm)
Presentation Type: Poster 50
Abstract
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease that occurs as an effect of repeated head injuries. Today, most CTE cases are found in athletes and specifically football players. Due to the rough nature of the sport, professional football players suffer from the highest rate of CTE, with one study done in 2023 finding 345 of the first 376 NFL players studied were diagnosed with CTE. Although its effects are still relatively unknown, CTE has been linked to changes in behavior like aggression, depression, and a lack of impulse control as well as more long-term problems like dementia. We use a standardized weight dropper to inflict minor traumatic brain injury (TBI) every two weeks, examining brain samples at each time increment. The repeated minor trauma serves as a model for human CTE development. Accumulating information around CTE is a challenge as obtaining human brain samples from passed patients is difficult, thus creating a model in zebrafish can help to identify specific behavioral changes, neuron degeneration, and the accumulation of aggregate Tau proteins throughout the development of CTE. The model could also be utilized for various drug screenings for potential CTE treatments. Additionally, Zebrafish have a unique ability to regenerate brain cells so studying their systems could serve as a blueprint for mammalian treatment.
