Chemical Weapons Exposure & mTBI: Imaging in Veterans with GWI

High-order diffusion MRI has previously been shown the ability discriminate between different stages of neuroinflammatory signaling. Applying an innovative method, known as Neurite density imaging, (to high-order difussion MRI), researchers confirmed its ability to accurately distinguish between veterans with and without GWI.

Looking specifically at the effects of chemical/biological weapons exposures and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), this study examined veterans from the Gulf War Illness Consortium (GWIC). Imaging performed at the Boston University School of Medicine revealed microstructural changes in both frontal and subcortical paralimbic regions of the brain. This neuroimaging evidence strongly suggests neuroinflammation as a key component of GWI’s pathobiology.