Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects millions of people in China each year. TBI has a high mortality and often times a serious prognosis. The causative mechanisms of TBI during development and recovery from an injury remain vague, leaving challenges for the medical community to provide treatment options that improve prognosis and provide an optimal recovery. Biological gaseous molecules including nitric oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and molecular hydrogen (H2) have been found to play critical roles in physiological and pathological conditions in mammals. Accumulating evidence has found that these gaseous molecules can execute neuroprotection in many central nervous system (CNS) conditions due to their highly permeable properties allowing them to enter the brain. Considering the complicated mechanisms and the serious prognosis of TBI, effective and adequate therapeutic approaches are urgently needed. These four gaseous molecules can be potential attractive therapeutic intervention on TBI. In this review, we will present a comprehensive overview on the role of these four biological gasses in the development of TBI and their potential therapeutic applications.
Highlights
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects 3–4 million people in China every year and accounts for 87% of deaths related to trauma
Endogenous gaseous are up-regulated during the pathological changes occurring after TBI, including redox reactions, inflammation, apoptosis, and excitotoxicity
Understanding the roles of endogenous gaseous molecules in different stages after TBI and determining an appropriate application strategy for exogenous gaseous molecules might provide us with more treatment options and significantly improve post TBI symptoms and outcome
Summary
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects 3–4 million people in China every year and accounts for 87% of deaths related to trauma. The causative mechanisms of TBI during development and recovery from an injury remain poorly understood. Gaseous Molecules in TBI nitric oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and molecular hydrogen (H2), serve critical roles in mammals’ physiological and pathological conditions (Zhou et al, 2012). They can cross the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and spread through brain tissue due to their smaller molecular weights compared with chemically formulated drugs (Zhou et al, 2012; Deng et al, 2014). We will present a comprehensive overview of the role of these four biological gasses in the development of TBI and their potential therapeutic applications
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