Neurobehavioral functional deficits following closed head injury in the neonatal pig.
Publication/Presentation Date
3-1-2007
Abstract
Neurobehavioral deficits in higher cortical systems have not been described previously in a large animal model of diffuse brain injury. Anesthetized 3-5 day old piglets were subjected to either mild (142 rad/s) or moderate (188 rad/s) rapid non-impact axial rotations of the head. Multiple domains of cortical function were evaluated 5 times during the 12 day post-injury period using tests of neurobehavioral function devised for piglets. There were no observed differences in neurobehavioral outcomes between mild injury pigs (N=8) and instrumented shams (N=4). Moderately injured piglets (N=7) had significantly lower interest in exploring their environment and had higher failure rates in visual-based problem solving compared to instrumented shams (N=5) on days 1 and 4 after injury. Neurobehavioral functional deficits correlated with neuropathologic damage in the neonatal pigs after inertial head injury. Injured axons detected by immunohistochemistry (beta-APP) were absent in mild injury and sham piglets, but were observed in moderately injured piglet brains. In summary, we have developed a quantitative battery of neurobehavioral functional assessments for large animals that correlate with neuropathologic axonal damage and may have wide applications in the fields of cardiac resuscitation, stroke, and hypoxic-ischemic brain injury.
Volume
204
Issue
1
First Page
234
Last Page
243
ISSN
0014-4886
Published In/Presented At
Friess, S. H., Ichord, R. N., Owens, K., Ralston, J., Rizol, R., Overall, K. L., Smith, C., Helfaer, M. A., & Margulies, S. S. (2007). Neurobehavioral functional deficits following closed head injury in the neonatal pig. Experimental neurology, 204(1), 234–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.expneurol.2006.10.010
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences | Pediatrics
PubMedID
17174304
Department(s)
Department of Pediatrics
Document Type
Article