Linking blast physics to biological outcomes in mild traumatic brain injury: Narrative review and preliminary report of an open-field blast model

•Blast exposures are associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI); during recent conflicts most of these have been classified as mild TBI (mTBI).•The role and mechanisms of primary blast wave injury remain controversial. We review blast models of TBI including shock tubes and open-field blast.•Our analyses of behavioral and pathological findings show that low level blast exposures (peak pressure<100kPa) induced lower mortality rates, fewer motor disabilities, and absence of lung injuries as compared to high level blast (peak pressure>200kPa).•We present preliminary findings obtained from a reproducible open-field blast murine model of mTBI representing a primary low level blast injury. Within scalability limits, this model closely mimics low level battlefield blast exposures and offers opportunities to advance the understanding of blast physics, resulting neuropathology, and underlying mechanisms leading to chronic effects of mTBI.