Behavioral pre-conditioning enhances angiogenesis and cognitive outcome after brain trauma

Abstract

TBI causes significant impairments in cognition. These deficits can be ameliorated using a pre-conditioning paradigm. While the precise mechanism has yet to be elucidated, our results indicate that angiogenesis may underlie the cognitive sparing seen in pre-conditioned animals.

Neuronal damage and functional deficits are ameliorated by inhibition of aquaporin and HIF1α after traumatic brain injury (TBI)

“…In this study, behavioral outcome was correlated with the amount of cell damage after TBI. Radial arm maze measurements have been routinely used to assess cognitive function [17,28,29]. The present data confirms that the functional performance of TBI animals was impaired, and further demonstrated an improved functional outcome after inhibition of AQP4, 9, and HIF-1α.…”

“…Spatial behavior testing in the eight-arm radial arm maze As previously described by us, [17] animals were first placed on the central platform of the maze and allowed to move about freely in order to become familiar with their surroundings (n = 8 each group). Animals were maintained on a regimen of two food pellets per day to encourage maze foraging.…”

Cerebral Blood Flow, Metabolism, and Head Trauma

“…If CBV increases, then so too will intracranial pressure (ICP) which causes increases in tissue necrosis (Czosnyka et al 2001 ) . In animal models it has been shown that the brain experiences a signi fi cant decrease in blood fl ow following TBI and the time line for decreased blood fl ow matches closely with that of reduced spatial memory, cognition, and neuronal cell injury Kreipke et al 2007 ; . Kreipke et al ( 2010 ) have shown that using an ETrA antagonist you can block the cascade of hypoperfusion resulting from TBI which in turn decreases neuronal injury while increasing cognition as measured by the radial arm maze (Kreipke et al 2010 ;Reynolds et al 2011 ) .…”

“…Furthermore, in nonfatal animal models of TBI, a signi fi cant decrease in blood fl ow to the brain has been documented coinciding temporally with neuronal injury and reduced cognition Kreipke et al 2007 ; . Additionally, it has been shown that blockade of TBI-induced hypoperfusion reduces neuronal injury and improves behavioral outcome following TBI (Kreipke et al 2010 ) .…”

Reduction of brain edema and expression of aquaporins with acute ethanol treatment after traumatic brain injury

“…To assess cognitive outcomes the radial arm maze was used, 16 in which animals were tested twice a day for 18 consecutive days, beginning at 24 hours post-TBI. Bait (Froot Loops cereal, Kelloggs Co.) was placed in 4 different arms (arms 1, 2, 4, and 7).…”