Journal of neurotrauma
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jun 2019
Quantifying the Effect of Repeated Impacts and Lateral Tip Movements on Brain Responses during Controlled Cortical Impact.
Controlled cortical impact (CCI) is a widely used laboratory neurotrauma model to study traumatic brain injury. During CCI, the brain is damaged by an impactor tip, which travels along its axial direction to a pre-defined depth at a pre-set speed. A recent study, however, using high-speed imaging analysis demonstrated that the impactor tip of an electromagnetically driven CCI device experienced repeated impacts and lateral movements, rather than a single axial impact. ⋯ We found that the repeated impacts had minimal effect on peak strains. The lateral movements of the tip, however, greatly increased brain strains and affected large brain regions. Hence, it is necessary to monitor and control lateral movements to ensure the accuracy and reproducibility of CCI.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jun 2019
Inhibition of Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3β as a Treatment for the Prevention of Cognitive Deficits after a Traumatic Brain Injury.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has many long-term consequences, including impairment in memory and changes in mood. Glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK-3β) in its phosphorylated form (p-GSK-3β) is considered to be a major contributor to memory problems that occur post-TBI. We have developed an antisense that targets the GSK-3β (GAO) gene. ⋯ Mice were euthanized at 4 and 72 h post-TBI. Analysis of p-ser9GSK-3β, p-tyr216GSK-3β, and phospho-tau (p-tau)404 showed that mice that received a TBI+RAO had significantly higher p-ser9GSK-3β, p-tyr216GSK-3β, and p-tau404 levels than the mice that received TBI+GAO and the Sham+RAO mice. The current finding suggests that inhibiting GSK-3β increase after TBI with an antisense directed at GSK-3β prevents learning and memory impairments.