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Int J Sports Med 2005; 26(6): 481-485
DOI: 10.1055/s-2004-821318
Clinical Sciences

© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

The Effects of Dehydration on Brain Volume - Preliminary Results

J. M. Dickson1 , H. M. Weavers2 , N. Mitchell2 , E. M. Winter2 , I. D. Wilkinson3 , E. J. R. Van Beek3 , J. M. Wild3 , P. D. Griffiths3
  • 1Department of Biomedical Science, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
  • 2Centre for Sport and Exercise Science, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK
  • 3Unit of Academic Radiology, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
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Publication History

Accepted after revision: June 30, 2004

Publication Date:
27 September 2004 (online)

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Abstract

In adults the cranium is a rigid bony vault of fixed size and therefore the intra-cranial volume is a constant which equals the sum of the volume of the brain, the intra-cranial volume of CSF and the intra-cranial volume of blood. There can be marked changes in the volumes of these three intra-cranial compartments which may influence susceptibility to brain damage after head injury. This is the first study to investigate the relationship between dehydration and changes in the volume of the brain and the cerebral ventricles. Six healthy control subjects underwent magnetic resonance imaging of the brain before and after a period of exercise in an environmental chamber. The subjects lost between 2.1 % and 2.6 % of their body mass due to water loss through sweating. We found a correlation between the degree of dehydration and the change in ventricular volume (r = 0.932, p = 0.007). The changes in ventricular volume caused by dehydration were much larger than those seen in day-to-day fluctuations in a normally hydrated healthy control subject.

Key words

Dehydration - head injury - brain volume - ventricular volume - sports injuries - stereology

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J. M. Dickson

Magdalen College, The University of Oxford

OX1 4 AU

Oxford

United Kingdom

Phone: + 07793234223

Fax: + 0 18 65 27 60 30

Email: jon.dickson@magdalen.oxford.ac.uk

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