Brain injuries caused by explosions result in the retraction of neural connections and blood-vessel constriction, reducing oxygen flow to the brain. Researchers have identified proteins and a signalling pathway that link mechanical forces to these harmful changes. Kit Parker at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his colleagues simulated blast forces on rat neurons using devices that abruptly stretched the cells. The authors showed that such forces stimulate transmembrane proteins called integrins, which are connected to the cell's internal skeleton.
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