Bedggood, MayanEssex, CATheadom, AMurray, HHume, PHoldsworth, SJFaull, RLMPedersen, M2025-04-152025-04-152025-04-03Journal of Neuroscience Research, ISSN: 0360-4012 (Print); 1097-4547 (Online), Wiley, 103(4), e70034-. doi: 10.1002/jnr.700340360-40121097-4547http://hdl.handle.net/10292/19086Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a common condition, particularly pervasive in contact sports environments. A range of symptoms can accompany this type of injury and negatively impact people's lives. As mTBI diagnosis and recovery largely rely on subjective reports, more objective injury markers are needed. The current study compared structural brain MRI-T2 relaxometry between a group of 40 male athletes with mTBI within 14 days of injury and 40 age-matched male controls. Voxel-averaged T2 relaxometry within the gray matter was increased for the mTBI group compared to controls (p < 0.001), with statistically significant increased T2 relaxometry particularly in superior cortical regions. Our findings indicate subtle brain abnormalities can be identified in acute mTBI using MRI-T2 relaxometry. These brain abnormalities may reflect inflammation present in the brain and could constitute an objective injury marker to supplement current subjective methods that dominate clinical decisions regarding diagnosis and prognosis. Future research should validate this potential marker with other data types, such as blood biomarkers or histological samples.© 2025 The Author(s). Journal of Neuroscience Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/MRIconcussioninflammationmTBImagnetic resonance imagingneuroimagingneuroinflammation32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences3202 Clinical SciencesTraumatic Head and Spine InjuryPhysical Injury - Accidents and Adverse EffectsTraumatic Brain Injury (TBI)Brain DisordersNeurosciencesClinical Research4.1 Discovery and preclinical testing of markers and technologies1109 Neurosciences1701 PsychologyNeurology & Neurosurgery3209 Neurosciences5202 Biological psychologyHumansMaleMagnetic Resonance ImagingBrain ConcussionAdultYoung AdultBrainGray MatterAthletic InjuriesBrainHumansBrain ConcussionAthletic InjuriesMagnetic Resonance ImagingAdultMaleYoung AdultGray MatterHumansMaleMagnetic Resonance ImagingBrain ConcussionAdultYoung AdultBrainGray MatterAthletic InjuriesJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1002/jnr.70034