Journal of neurotrauma
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Journal of neurotrauma · May 2010
The effect of epidermal growth factor in the injured brain after trauma in rats.
Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is a known mitogen for neural stem and progenitor cells (NS/NPCs) in the central nervous system (CNS). In vitro, EGF maintains NS/NPCs in the proliferative state, whereas in the normal rodent brain it promotes their proliferation and migration in the subventricular zone (SVZ). Additionally, EGF administration can augment neuronal replacement in the ischemic-injured adult striatum. ⋯ Furthermore, we found that the EGF-induced proliferative population differentiated preferentially toward astroglial phenotype. Nevertheless, animals treated with EGF showed significant improvement in cognitive function, which was accompanied by reduced hippocampal neuronal cell loss. Collectively, the data from this study demonstrate that EGF exerts a neuroprotective rather than neurogenic effect in protecting the brain from injury.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Apr 2010
The whisker nuisance task identifies a late-onset, persistent sensory sensitivity in diffuse brain-injured rats.
Post-traumatic morbidity reduces the quality of life for traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors by altering neuropsychological function. After midline fluid percussion injury (FPI), diffuse pathology in the ventral posterior thalamus suggests that somatosensory whisker function may be impaired post-injury. The goals of the present study were to design and validate a task to detect injury-induced somatosensory morbidity (Experiment 1), and to evaluate preliminary applications of the task (Experiment 2). ⋯ In Experiment 2, to evaluate applications of the whisker nuisance task, four additional uninjured and brain-injured groups were subjected to mild brain injury only, shaved whiskers after moderate brain injury, repeated whisker nuisance task stimulation after moderate brain injury, or regular opportunities for tactile exploration of an enriched environment after moderate brain injury over 4 weeks post-injury. The whisker nuisance task has the sensitivity to detect mild brain injury (7.7 +/- 1.0), but morbidity was not mitigated by any of the neurorehabilitative interventions. Following diffuse brain injury, the whisker nuisance task is a promising tool to detect post-traumatic morbidity and the efficacy of therapeutic interventions that may restore discrete circuit function in brain-injured patients.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Apr 2010
Clinical TrialCerebrospinal fluid inflammatory cytokines and biomarkers of injury severity in acute human spinal cord injury.
There is an urgent need for both the scientific development and clinical validation of novel therapies for acute spinal cord injury (SCI). The scientific development of novel therapies would be facilitated by a better understanding of the acute pathophysiology of human SCI. Clinical validation of such therapies would be facilitated by the availability of biomarkers with which to stratify injury severity and predict neurological recovery. ⋯ Furthermore, segmental motor recovery at 6 months post injury was better predicted by these CSF proteins than with the patients' baseline ASIA grade. The pattern of expression over the first 3 to 4 days post injury of a number of inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6, IL-8, and MCP-1 provides invaluable information about the pathophysiology of human SCI. A prediction model that could use such biological data to stratify injury severity and predict neurological outcome may be extremely useful for facilitating the clinical validation of novel treatments in acute human SCI.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Apr 2010
Diffusion tensor imaging of mild to moderate blast-related traumatic brain injury and its sequelae.
To evaluate the effects of mild to moderate blast-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) on the microstructure of brain white matter (WM) and neurobehavioral outcomes, we studied 37 veterans and service members (mean age 31.5 years, SD = 7.2; post-injury interval 871.5 days; SD = 343.1), whose report of acute neurological status was consistent with sustaining mild to moderate TBI due to blast while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. Fifteen veterans without a history of TBI or exposure to blast (mean age 31.4 years, SD = 5.4) served as a comparison group, including seven subjects with extracranial injury (post-injury interval 919.5 days, SD = 455.1), and eight who were uninjured. Magnetic resonance imaging disclosed focal lesions in five TBI participants. ⋯ Correlations of DTI variables with symptom measures were non-significant and inconsistent. Our data do not show WM injury in mild to moderate blast-related TBI in veterans despite their residual symptoms and difficulty in verbal memory. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are also discussed.