More than a dozen professional athletes have agreed to donate their brains post-mortem to the new Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, athletes and researchers said.’
The center researchers will use the brains to study the long-term effects of concussions, which often result in brain disease, study Co-Director Robert Stern said.
‘Our hope is to be able to understand more about the development of neurodegenerative diseases in general,’ Stern, a BU neurology associate professor, said. ‘We hope this research will help lead to treatments and educate the public about the risk of repetitive concussions.’
Some of the athletes will take part in yearly check-ups so the development of their brains can be tracked, Stern said. The National Institutes of Health and various BU departments and programs are funding the center through a $100,000 grant.’
‘Football is great, but playing with repetitive concussions or significant individual concussions can lead to serious brain injuries,’ Stern said.
Study Co-Director Ann McKee said she hopes the center will be able to determine why repeated athletic brain trauma leads to deterioration later in life. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease which starts producing symptoms of anger and later resembles dementia, will be the primary ailment studied.
‘CTE is a clear instance where a traumatic injury occurring in one’s teens and 20s results in debilitating injuries in one’s 40s, 50s and 60s,’ McKee, a BU neurology and pathology associate professor, said. ‘We hope to be able to intercept CTE and prevent it all together.’
McKee said she plans to analyze at least one brain a month, and she would like to look at more than 50 brains in total.
‘Once we get to 50 brains, we will have a much better idea of what CTE is all about,’ McKee said.
The center has already analyzed the brain of former Houston Oilers linebacker John Grimsley and found signs of CTE, McKee said. In the six post-concussive brain cases studied so far, researchers have found CTE in five.
The center may also focus on military-related injuries in the future, McKee said.
‘We hope to continue to expand our work, because we believe that CTE is a potentially completely preventable disease,’ she said.
The center is partnering with the Sports Legacy Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to studying brain injuries and disseminating information based on the institute’s research, SLI Co-Founder Chris Nowinski said.
Nowinski, a professional wrestler and college football player, said he is eager to learn more about the effects of brain concussions because he suffers from post-concussion syndrome, which can typically include depression, concentration and memory problems, anxiety and headaches.
‘I care because I live with it,’ Nowinski said. ‘The work done at the center should massively ramp up our ability to save lives.’
Nowinski said he is one of three former professional wrestlers to pledge his brain to BU after his death. Other athletes who have agreed to donate their brains include former New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson, former Tennessee Titans tight end Frank Wycheck, former U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team player Cindy Parlow, Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Jenny Thompson and boxer Maurice ‘Termite’ Watkins.
SLI Co-Founder Robert Cantu said he is concerned about the risk factors in the development of CTE.
‘We don’t know why certain people get CTE, and others don’t,’ Cantu said.
The center will be studying another brain in the near future because one donor passed away over the weekend, Cantu said. The name of the athlete has not been released.
Cantu said he would like to see the center’s work lead to the professional sports leagues’ adoption of stricter guidelines for when an athlete can resume playing after a concussion by professional sports leagues, especially in the NFL.