Why does diffuse axonal injury from concussive events cause widespread neurological deficits in the brain, even if a CT scan shows no macroscopic lesions?

💡 Explanation

Diffuse axonal injury induces widespread damage because the rapid acceleration/deceleration causes axonal strain. This strain disrupts the transport of essential proteins and organelles along the axons, therefore causing widespread dysfunction, rather than localized macroscopic lesions observable on CT scans or direct neuronal death.

• If a dorsal horn interneuron releases enkephalin in response to descending modulation after an acute injury, which consequence follows?
• Why does heat stroke, rather than heat exhaustion, frequently result when an elderly person takes anticholinergic medications during a heat wave?
• If a patient has a mutation that impairs the production of thromboxane A2 in platelets, which consequence is most likely?
• Why does the absorption rate of orally administered cyclosporine (an immunosuppressant) vary significantly between patients with similar dosages, especially post-digestive processing?
• Why does focusing on a distant object after prolonged close-up work temporarily blur vision, involving the ciliary muscle?
• If a patient develops type 2 diabetes despite consistently injecting insulin, which mechanism involving GLUT4 transporters primarily explains this resistance at the cellular level?