Associations Between Instrumented Mouthguard-Measured Head Acceleration Events and Post-Match Biomarkers of Astroglial and Axonal Injury in Male Amateur Australian Football Players.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Advances in instrumented mouthguards (iMGs) allow for accurate quantification of single high-acceleration head impacts and cumulative head acceleration exposure in collision sports. However, relationships between these measures and risk of brain cell injury remain unclear.

Aim

The purpose of this study was to quantify measures of non-concussive head impact exposure and assess their association with blood glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neurofilament light (NfL) and phosphorylated-tau-181 (p-tau-181) levels in male Australian football players.

Methods

A total of 31 athletes underwent in-season (24 h post-match) and post-season (> 5 weeks) blood collections and/or wore HITIQ Nexus A9 iMGs measuring peak linear (PLA) and rotational (PRA) acceleration.

SUBMITTER: Evans LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12011967 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature