Abstract #4516

Reduced Brain Glutamine in Female Varsity Rugby Athletes after Concussion

Amy L Schranz^1,2, Kathryn Y Manning^1,2, Gregory A Dekaban^3,4, Lisa Fischer⁵, Kevin Blackney^3,4, Christy Barreira³, Tim Doherty⁶, Douglas Fraser⁷, Arthur Brown^3,8, Ravi S Menon^1,2, and Robert Bartha^1,2

¹Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, London, ON, Canada, ²Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada, ³Robarts Research Institute, London, ON, Canada, ⁴Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada, ⁵Family Medicine and Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada, ⁶Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada, ⁷Paediatrics Critical Care Medicine, London Health Sciences Centre, London, ON, Canada, ⁸Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

The effect of concussion on female athletes is underreported in the literature. This study found reduced glutamine in the prefrontal white matter of female varsity rugby athletes after concussion and in non-concussed athletes after a season of play using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Additionally, using diffusion tensor imaging, decreased fractional anisotropy and increased radial diffusivity were found within the spectroscopy voxel in athletes after a season of play. The observed changes were uncorrelated with clinical test scores suggesting these imaging metrics may be more sensitive to brain injury and could aid in concussion diagnosis and monitoring.

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