Repetitive Head Impact Exposure Tied to Disruption at Depths of Sulci

TUESDAY, Sept. 23, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Higher repetitive head impact (RHI) exposure is associated with microstructural disruption at the depths of sulci, according to a study published online Sept. 17 in Neurology.

Bluyé DeMessie, from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York, and colleagues examined the association between soccer-related RHI exposure over 12 months and in vivo microstructural disruption at the depths of cerebral sulci in amateur soccer players and noncollision sport athletes aged 18 to 55 years.

The study included 352 soccer players and 77 controls. The researchers found an association for greater RHI with lower fractional anisotropy (FA; standardized β = −0.234) and a higher orientation dispersion index (ODI; β = 0.156), averaged over depths of cerebral sulci in an RHI exposure-dependent manner. Associations were also seen for worse cognitive performance on verbal learning and memory tests with lower FA and higher ODI at depths of sulci in the orbitofrontal region. No associations were seen for diffusion measures from deep white matter with RHI or cognitive measures. The relationship between RHI exposure and poorer performance on verbal learning, weighted verbal learning, and verbal memory was partially mediated by orbitofrontal depths of sulci microstructural disruption (lower FA and higher ODI).

“Our findings suggest that this layer of white matter in the folds of the brain is vulnerable to repeated trauma from heading and may be an important place to detect brain injury,” coauthor Michael L. Lipton, from Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, said in a statement.

One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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