Investigating the acute and long-term effects of traumatic brain injury on the immune and fibrinolytic system

Traumatic brain injury is a serious condition that results in long-term disability in most patients. This thesis investigated the early and long-term effects of the immune and fibrinolytic response (blood clot breakdown), and the link between these two systems after brain injury in mice. A unique discovery was that the chronic immune response, over a period of 8 months, directly contributes to a worse outcome after brain injury. We also found gender-specific differences occurring at the early stage of injury, that influence recovery, brain-related pathology and the immune response after brain injury, mediated by components of the fibrinolytic system.