2024 journal article

Functional recovery following traumatic brain injury in rats is enhanced by oral supplementation with bovine thymus extract

FASEB JOURNAL, 38(3).

By: N. Surzenko*, J. Bastidas*, R. Reid*, J. Curaba*, W. Zhang*, H. Bostan*, M. Wilson*, A. Dominique* ...

author keywords: autoantibodies; autophagy; glandular therapy; nutrition; oral tolerance; phagocytosis; RNA-Seq
TL;DR: The potency of a nutritional supplement containing nuclear fraction of bovine thymus in enhancing the functional recovery from TBI is demonstrated, for the first time, in enhancing the functional recovery from TBI. (via Semantic Scholar)
UN Sustainable Development Goal Categories
2. Zero Hunger (OpenAlex)
Source: Web Of Science
Added: February 19, 2024

AbstractTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. There are currently no effective treatments for TBI, and trauma survivors suffer from a variety of long‐lasting health consequences. With nutritional support recently emerging as a vital step in improving TBI patients' outcomes, we sought to evaluate the potential therapeutic benefits of nutritional supplements derived from bovine thymus gland, which can deliver a variety of nutrients and bioactive molecules. In a rat model of controlled cortical impact (CCI), we determined that animals supplemented with a nuclear fraction of bovine thymus (TNF) display greatly improved performance on beam balance and spatial memory tests following CCI. Using RNA‐Seq, we identified an array of signaling pathways that are modulated by TNF supplementation in rat hippocampus, including those involved in the process of autophagy. We further show that bovine thymus‐derived extracts contain antigens found in neural tissues and that supplementation of rats with thymus extracts induces production of serum IgG antibodies against neuronal and glial antigens, which may explain the enhanced animal recovery following CCI through possible oral tolerance mechanism. Collectively, our data demonstrate, for the first time, the potency of a nutritional supplement containing nuclear fraction of bovine thymus in enhancing the functional recovery from TBI.