Diffusion-weighted imaging has revealed widespread white matter abnormalities in the brains of retired athletes with a history of concussions. Tremblay and colleagues noted that 15 previously concussed participants had lower white matter integrity in frontoparietal and callosal areas than did 15 never-concussed former athletes. Concussion-naive participants, who were matched for age and education, also demonstrated better episodic and motor memory.
References
Tremblay, S. et al. Diffuse white matter tract abnormalities in clinically normal ageing retired athletes with a history of sports-related concussions. Brain 10.1093/brain/awu236
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Sports-related concussions might exacerbate the effects of ageing on the brain. Nat Rev Neurol 10, 547 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2014.180
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2014.180