Journal of neurotrauma
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Journal of neurotrauma · Feb 2008
Late proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy following traumatic brain injury during early childhood: relationship with neurobehavioral outcomes.
We sought to extend previous research that demonstrates reduced neurometabolite concentrations during the chronic phase of pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children injured during early childhood. We hypothesized that young children with TBI in the chronic phase post-injury would have lower N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) metabolite concentrations in gray and white matter in comparison to controls. We also hypothesized that metabolite levels would be correlated with acute TBI severity and neurobehavioral skills. ⋯ Late NAA and Cr levels in the medial frontal gray matter and NAA levels in the left frontal white matter were strongly positively correlated with initial GCS score. Metabolite levels were correlated with some neurobehavioral measures differentially for children with TBI or OI. Some neurometabolite levels differed between the TBI and OI groups more than 1 year post-injury and were related to injury severity, as well as some neurobehavioral outcomes following TBI during early childhood.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Feb 2008
Nicotinamide treatment provides acute neuroprotection and GFAP regulation following fluid percussion injury.
Previous studies in our laboratory have demonstrated the preclinical efficacy of nicotinamide (NAM; vitamin B3) treatment following fluid percussion injury (FPI). At a dose of 500 or 50 mg/kg, NAM significantly facilitated recovery of function on a variety of motor and sensorimotor tasks in rodents, and the 500 mg/kg dose improved cognitive performance. The purpose of the present study was to examine the acute neuroprotective ability of NAM following FPI. ⋯ However, the inverse was observed at 7 days where NAM treatment significantly increased the number of GFAP(+) astrocytes. Both doses of NAM also significantly reduced FJ expression at the 24-h and 7-day time intervals. The results of this study suggest that NAM has strong neuroprotective abilities in the injured brain and may have therapeutic potential for brain injury.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jan 2008
Comparative StudyLongitudinal comparison of two severities of unilateral cervical spinal cord injury using magnetic resonance imaging in rats.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) should be a powerful tool for characterization of spinal cord pathology in animal models. We evaluated the utility of medium-field MRI for the longitudinal assessment of progression of spinal cord injury (SCI) in a rat model. Thirteen adult rats were subjected to a 6.25 or 25 g-cm unilateral cervical SCI, and underwent MRI and behavioral tests during a 3-week study period. ⋯ Significant correlation was also found between parameters determined by MRI: swelling, hypointense signal, hyperintense signal, and lesion length. MRI is a valuable imaging modality to assess the temporal evolution of SCI and to distinguish different severities of cervical SCI in rats. In future, MRI could be applied as a screening tool to either administer goal-directed therapies, or enable even group distribution, prior to therapeutic intervention for example through quantification and matching of swelling and edema.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jan 2008
Review Meta AnalysisHypothermia treatment for traumatic brain injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
In this study, we conducted an updated meta-analysis of the effects of hypothermia therapy on mortality, favorable neurologic outcome, and associated adverse effects in adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) for use by Brain Trauma Foundation (BTF)/American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) task force to develop evidence-based treatment guidelines. Our data sources relied on handsearches of four previous good-quality systematic reviews, which all conducted electronic searches of primarily MEDLINE (OVID), EMBASE, and Cochrane Library. An independent, supplemental electronic search of MEDLINE was undertaken as well (last searched June 2007). ⋯ However, this evidence comes with the suggestion that the potential benefits of hypothermia may likely be offset by a significant increase in risk of pneumonia (RR 2.37; 95% CI 1.37, 4.10). In sum, the present study's updated meta-analysis supports previous findings that hypothermic therapy constitutes a beneficial treatment of TBI in specific circumstances. Accordingly, the BTF/AANS guidelines task force has issued a Level III recommendation for optional and cautious use of hypothermia for adults with TBI.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Dec 2007
Characterization of the induced neuropeptide Y-like immunoreactivity in primary sensory neurons following complete median nerve transection.
In this study, we examined characteristics of the neuropeptide Y-like immunoreactive (NPY-LI) dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons after complete median nerve transection (CMNT). With fluorogold (FG) injection into normal median nerves, numerous FG-labeled DRG neurons were localized predominantly in the C6 and C7 DRGs, where the focal regions were examined after CMNT. With NPY immunohistochemistry, a few NPY-LI neurons were detected in the ipsilateral but not contralateral DRGs after FG injection into the nerve. ⋯ Using double fluorescent dyes tracing, we detected that some of the injured DRG neurons were NPY-LI neurons that projected to the cuneate nucleus (CN). Following dorsal rhizotomy, our data indicated that after CMNT the induced NPY-LI fibers in the ipsilateral CN originated exclusively from the injured DRG neurons. Taken together, these findings suggest that injury-induced NPY-LI fibers in the CN may originate from the injured DRG neurons via the median primary afferent fibers, affect the excitability of cuneothalamic projection neurons (CTNs), and involve neuropathic sensation following CMNT.