BCAA Supplementation for Concussion

Annually, between 100,000 to 140,000 children present to the emergency department for concussion in the United States.1 The Centers for Disease Control now estimates that 1.6 - 3.8 million sports related concussions occur each year in the United States. A large proportion of these patients have enduring cognitive and neurobehavioral problems. Concussion is a heterogeneous insult to the brain that precipitates a complex pathophysiological process that can result in a cascade of deleterious side effects. At present, there are no proven therapies to mitigate or prevent the neurocognitive and neurobehavioral consequences of concussions. The limbic hippocampus, a brain structure crucial for learning and memory, is often damaged in concussion. In preclinical studies in our laboratory, analysis of ipsilateral hippocampi isolated from mice after traumatic brain injury (TBI) demonstrated that only the concentrations of the three BCAA's (valine, isoleucine, and leucine) were significantly altered (reduced) after injury. When these brain-injured animals received dietary supplementation with BCAA's, the concentrations of these amino acids were restored in the injured hippocampus and the injured animals demonstrated significant cognitive improvement to levels comparable to those obtained in non-injured control animals. In light of these results and the increasing awareness and morbidity associated with concussion, we are proposing a pilot therapeutic exploratory clinical trial to determine the effects of BCAA's in reducing the neurocognitive side effects of concussion injury.