In evidence generated from a ten-year study on Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI, a team led by researchers from Rutgers University have found two molecules that could be the key to the development of new drugs used to treat traumatic brain injuries.

According to Mayo Clinic a TBI is described as the following;

Traumatic brain injury usually results from a violent blow or jolt to the head or body. An object that penetrates brain tissue, such as a bullet or shattered piece of skull, also can cause traumatic brain injury.

Mild traumatic brain injury may affect your brain cells temporarily. More-serious traumatic brain injury can result in bruising, torn tissues, bleeding and other physical damage to the brain. These injuries can result in long-term complications or death.”

These two molecules from the study and their effects on the brain, are not just now being discovered — the molecules and how they interact with the brain and neuron synapses are now beginning to be fully understood.

The molecules; glutamate and cypin, have profound effects on how severe a TBI will become. Not all negative effects generated from a TBI are from the actual blow to the head, but how the brain responds to the trauma.

The first molecule’s, glutamate, effects on the brain in a post-traumatic brain injury state has already been established. When a TBI occurs, the neurotransmitter glutamate is released. Glutamate is vital to normal brain function; it is responsible for transmitting signals between individual nerve cells as well as aids in learning and memory. However, in a post TBI environment, glutamate floods the brain causing the cells that are activated by glutamate to become overexcited. This causes cell damage and or brain cell death.

However, the brain has a compound that is released in defense of further brain damage. This compound, called cypin, acts as a sort of block, preventing glutamate from attacking and killing the neurons.