New Ways To Track Football Impact On Human Brain
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A nearby university is looking at new ways to track the impact of football on the human brain.
The University of Wisconsin-Platteville is looking at whether a certain biomarker can be a sign of traumatic brain injury during football games.
"That biomarker is found in the brain. But it's also found in muscle and adipose tissue, or fat tissue," says Matthew Rogatzki, an assistant professor at U-W Platteville.
He says researchers monitored football players during home games last year. They were expecting levels of the biomarker to go up after a concussion.
No players suffered concussions during home games last year, but Rogatzki says researchers did get usable information.
"We saw that that marker increased before and after a game. So, if a player played in the game, that biomarker would increase post-game compared to pregame."
That could indicate the player might have experienced a brain injury even without a concussion. He cautions the results are preliminary, and more research is needed.
