Neuroforensomics: Metabolites as valuable biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid of lethal traumatic brain injuries

TY - JOUR

T1 - Neuroforensomics: Metabolites as valuable biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid of lethal traumatic brain injuries

AU - Bohnert, Simone

AU - Reinert, Christoph

AU - Trella, Stefanie

AU - Cattaneo, Andrea

AU - Preiß, Ulrich

AU - Bohnert, Michael

AU - Zwirner, Johann

AU - Büttner, Andreas

AU - Schmitz, Werner

AU - Ondruschka, Benjamin

N1 - © 2024. The Author(s).

PY - 2024/6/13

Y1 - 2024/6/13

N2 - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a ubiquitous, common sequela of accidents with an annual prevalence of several million cases worldwide. In forensic pathology, structural proteins of the cellular compartments of the CNS in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) have been predominantly used so far as markers of an acute trauma reaction for the biochemical assessment of neuropathological changes after TBI. The analysis of endogenous metabolites offers an innovative approach that has not yet been considered widely in the assessment of causes and circumstances of death, for example after TBI. The present study, therefore, addresses the question whether the detection of metabolites by liquid-chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analysis in post mortem CSF is suitable to identify TBI and to distinguish it from acute cardiovascular control fatalities (CVF). Metabolite analysis of 60 CSF samples collected during autopsies was performed using high resolution (HR)-LC/MS. Subsequent statistical and graphical evaluation as well as the calculation of a TBI/CVF quotient yielded promising results: numerous metabolites were identified that showed significant concentration differences in the post mortem CSF for lethal acute TBI (survival times up to 90 min) compared to CVF. For the first time, this forensic study provides an evaluation of a new generation of biomarkers for diagnosing TBI in the differentiation to other causes of death, here CVF, as surrogate markers for the post mortem assessment of complex neuropathological processes in the CNS ("neuroforensomics").

AB - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a ubiquitous, common sequela of accidents with an annual prevalence of several million cases worldwide. In forensic pathology, structural proteins of the cellular compartments of the CNS in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) have been predominantly used so far as markers of an acute trauma reaction for the biochemical assessment of neuropathological changes after TBI. The analysis of endogenous metabolites offers an innovative approach that has not yet been considered widely in the assessment of causes and circumstances of death, for example after TBI. The present study, therefore, addresses the question whether the detection of metabolites by liquid-chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analysis in post mortem CSF is suitable to identify TBI and to distinguish it from acute cardiovascular control fatalities (CVF). Metabolite analysis of 60 CSF samples collected during autopsies was performed using high resolution (HR)-LC/MS. Subsequent statistical and graphical evaluation as well as the calculation of a TBI/CVF quotient yielded promising results: numerous metabolites were identified that showed significant concentration differences in the post mortem CSF for lethal acute TBI (survival times up to 90 min) compared to CVF. For the first time, this forensic study provides an evaluation of a new generation of biomarkers for diagnosing TBI in the differentiation to other causes of death, here CVF, as surrogate markers for the post mortem assessment of complex neuropathological processes in the CNS ("neuroforensomics").

KW - Humans

KW - Brain Injuries, Traumatic/cerebrospinal fluid

KW - Biomarkers/cerebrospinal fluid

KW - Male

KW - Female

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Adult

KW - Aged

KW - Chromatography, Liquid

KW - Metabolomics/methods

KW - Mass Spectrometry/methods

KW - Young Adult

KW - Autopsy

KW - Aged, 80 and over

U2 - 10.1038/s41598-024-64312-0

DO - 10.1038/s41598-024-64312-0

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 38871842

VL - 14

SP - 13651

JO - SCI REP-UK

JF - SCI REP-UK

SN - 2045-2322

IS - 1

ER -