Table-top air pressure-driven shock tube to induce a blast traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Mechanisms that lead to traumatic brain injury due to blast exposure (bTBI) are not well understood. Complexities of cellular responses involved have made identification of these mechanisms challenging. In-vitro studies of blast induced traumatic brain injury are possible with employment of shock tubes which closely mimic the loading conditions of blasts in a laboratory setting. A novel pneumatic, two-chamber shock tube has been developed to generate a span of mild to severe pressure waveforms seen in TBI literature [1–2]. Unlike other shock tubes utilized in TBI research, it is small, portable, controllable and most importantly safe to operate. The ultimate goal is to use this device to develop a blast induced traumatic brain injury animal model that can be used to explain the injury mechanism(s) and threshold levels of brain injury after blast exposure.