engleski

Learning and motor performances after repetitive traumatic brain injury in the mouse

People often sustain repetitive traumatic brain injury (rTBI), mostly in contact sports and as a result of domestic violence and military combats. It is suggested that rTBI is associated with persistent alterations in cognition, emotional functioning, behavior and motor performance. The aim of our research was to investigate cumulative effects of rTBI on learning and motor abilities in adult male C57BL/6 mice previously trained in the passive avoidance and rotarod tasks. The animals were subjected to a repetitive brain injury using a noninvasive modified weight drop model by Marmarou. Apparatus consisted of a vertical tube, box below the tube with a piece of aluminum foil on its upper side, on which the animals were situated immediately after isoflurane anesthesia, and a steel weight suspended on a nylon thread. Weight was set above the mouse head, pulled upward to a height of 1 m and dropped. rTBIs were performed twice daily, 6 hours apart, during 5 consecutive days. Sham treated, control animals were anesthetized but not subjected to the head impact. One day after the final injury or sham procedure, the mice were retested on passive avoidance task. Additionally, they were tested on the rotarod apparatus either one or three days after the last traumatic or sham injury. Mentioned preliminary results indicate no significant differences in learning or motor performances in traumatized animals compared to the mice of the control group in our experimental conditions.

repetitive traumatic brain injury; rotarod; passive avoidance; mouse

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