Combining impact monitoring mouthguards and blood biomarkers to monitor head impacts among Muay Thai athletes - A case study.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the relationship between head impact characteristics and the levels of blood biomarkers associated with brain injury, neurofilament light (NfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP).

METHODS

Four elite amateur Muay Thai athletes were equipped with impact monitoring mouthguards, collecting linear and rotational acceleration data during a period of eight weeks. Capillary blood samples were collected after each period of sparring sessions to analyse the levels of NfL and GFAP.

RESULTS

On a group level, mean GFAP levels were negatively correlated to mean impacts per session (p ​< ​0.05). Two athletes had significant correlations between head impact characteristics and the levels of NfL and/or GFAP.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that NfL and GFAP might responded differently to linear and rotational accelerations and/or that the effect of different types of accelerations on brain tissue integrity is individual. The methods used could be useful to monitor brain health in different impacts sports.