Insidious Cerebral Capillary Trauma from Motor Vehicle-Induced Vibration

The advent of the motor vehicle nearly one century ago has greatly altered modern life. While modern industry and technology continue to develop, it is easy to enjoy the benefits of these improvements rather than consider their consequences. Motor vehicles, the most commonly used form of transportation, are highly regarded for their convenience. However, motor vehicles produce whole body vibration (WBV). Though motor vehicles have been greatly improved in recent years, WBV does still exist and its potentially devastating aftermath must be understood. In 2011, there was an estimated 5,338,000 police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes. According to a recent study by Charlie Klauer of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute Center for Vulnerable Road User Safety, fatigue is the cause of 20 percent of all U.S. automobile crashes. Our study on motor vehicle-induced-whole body vibration (MVWBV) challenges the previous notion of driver fatigue [1,2]. These results suggest that “driver fatigue” is actually brain impairment and dysfunction caused by MV-WBV. To further this study, we hypothesize that MV-WBV can produce accumulated brain injuries that compromise drivers’ cerebral function, such as judgment and reactive capabilities, and can be the cause of motor vehicle accidents. Long term MV-WBV is an important risk factor of cerebrovascular diseases and stroke. On wide literature review, it is evident that truck drivers have a higher incidence rate of hypertension, cerebrovascular diseases and stroke [3-5]. Prevention of early neuronal injury from MV-WBV can reduce late chronic brain diseases. In our previous study on handarm vibration injury, the 4F-peptide was studied, and its preliminary preventative effects from hand-arm vibration injury were described [6]. The goal of this study is to understand the pathological damage to cerebral capillaries and neurons from MVWBV and to validate the 4F-peptide preventative effect from MV-WBV injury

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