Abstract
The jet-flow overpressure chamber (OPC) has been previously reported as a model of blast-mediated traumatic brain injury (bTBI). However, rigorous characterization of the features of this injury apparatus shows that it fails to recapitulate exposure to an isolated blast wave. Through combined experimental and computational modeling analysis of gas-dynamic flow conditions, we show here that the jet-flow OPC produces a collimated high-speed jet flow with extreme dynamic pressure that delivers a severe compressive impulse. Variable rupture dynamics of the diaphragm through which the jet flow originates also generate a weak and infrequent shock front. In addition, there is a component of acceleration-deceleration injury to the head as it is agitated in the headrest. Although not a faithful model of free-field blast exposure, the jet-flow OPC produces a complex multi-modal model of TBI that can be useful in laboratory investigation of putative TBI therapies and fundamental neurophysiological processes after brain injury.
Highlights
We describe here a rigorous and comprehensive physical characterization of the jetflow overpressure chamber (OPC), which reveals that this apparatus instead produces a model of multi-modal Traumatic brain injury (TBI) that is useful for the field yet different in nature from what was previously assumed
We summarize the important features of blast physics that must be incorporated into an accurate laboratory model of blast-mediated traumatic brain injury (bTBI)
Our results show that the jet-flow OPC, which has been widely used in experimental studies designed to model bTBI,[31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41] generates a powerful, collimated jet flow of very high dynamic pressure at the specimen location
Summary
Traumatic brain injury (TBI), including mild TBI, commonly occurs in crashes, falls, explosions, and assaults, and often results in chronic neuropsychiatric disorders.[1,2,3,4] Within the United States alone, the annual incidence of TBI is estimated at *3.5 million cases, and worldwide it is estimated to be as high as 50 million.[5,6] at least 3.2 to 5.3 million Americans currently live with one or more TBI-related disabilities, resulting in an estimated $80 billion in annual direct costs and an additional $65 billion in lost productivity.[7,8]Patients with TBI experience an increased prevalence of many progressive and debilitating conditions, including visual deficits, chronic pain and fatigue, headache, posttraumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), and neurodegenerative disease.[9]. There are currently no protective pharmacological treatments that stop neurodegeneration after TBI
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