ABSTRACT
Concussions and mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) represent a substantial portion of the annual incidence of TBI aided by the increased reporting of concussions in youth sports, and the increased exposure of soldiers to blast injuries in the war theater. The pathophysiology of concussions and mild TBI consist predominantly of axonal injury at the cellular level and working memory deficits at the behavioral level. Importantly, studies in humans and in animals are making it clear that concussions and mild TBI are not merely a milder form of moderate-severe TBI but represent a separate disease/injury state. Therefore, acute and chronic treatment strategies, both behavioral and pharmacological, need to be implemented based on thorough pre-clinical assessment. The review in this chapter focuses on two under-studied components of the pathophysiology of mild TBI-the role of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase pathway in axonal injury, and the role of the dopaminergic system in working memory deficits.
