Characterization of GFAP as a Serum Biomarker for Blast Induced Traumatic Brain Injury

Location

Old Dominion University, Learning Commons at Perry Library, Room 1311

Start Date

4-8-2017 1:50 PM

End Date

4-8-2017 2:10 PM

Description

About 1.7 million people suffer mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) annually (Faul et al., 2010). TBI is a sudden hit to the head causing psychological, social, and physical complications. Inefficient diagnostics represents a significant clinical need addressed through the use of serum biomarkers. In this study, Western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to determine and validate biomarker detection. Both measured glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), an intermediate filament found exclusively in astrocytes, levels in samples of injured and control animals. It has been shown that levels of GFAP within serum may be associated with TBI severity (Lei et al., 2015). Results were derived from animals exposed to various blasts. Later, we concluded to use ELISAs to validate these findings because of their higher sensitivity. We concluded that once optimized, GFAP as a serum biomarker could enable physicians to run blood tests and accurately identify severity of TBI.

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Apr 8th, 1:50 PM Apr 8th, 2:10 PM

Characterization of GFAP as a Serum Biomarker for Blast Induced Traumatic Brain Injury

Old Dominion University, Learning Commons at Perry Library, Room 1311

About 1.7 million people suffer mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) annually (Faul et al., 2010). TBI is a sudden hit to the head causing psychological, social, and physical complications. Inefficient diagnostics represents a significant clinical need addressed through the use of serum biomarkers. In this study, Western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to determine and validate biomarker detection. Both measured glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), an intermediate filament found exclusively in astrocytes, levels in samples of injured and control animals. It has been shown that levels of GFAP within serum may be associated with TBI severity (Lei et al., 2015). Results were derived from animals exposed to various blasts. Later, we concluded to use ELISAs to validate these findings because of their higher sensitivity. We concluded that once optimized, GFAP as a serum biomarker could enable physicians to run blood tests and accurately identify severity of TBI.