Behavioural brain research
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Comparative Study
Experience-dependent behavioral plasticity is disturbed following traumatic injury to the immature brain.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is most prevalent in children and young adults. The long-term effects of pediatric TBI include cognitive and behavioral impairments; however, over time, it is difficult to distinguish individual variability in intellect and behavior from sequelae of early injury. Postnatal day (PND) 19 rats underwent lateral fluid percussion (FP) injury, followed by rearing in either standard (STD) or enriched environment (EE) conditions. ⋯ After the delayed EE, sham EE animals again showed more probe target hits, while FPEE animals did not, demonstrating an enduring memory deficit. These data confirm that early TBI has effects on experience-dependent plasticity resulting in long-term neurobehavioral deficits. In addition, the ability to benefit from environmental stimulation following TBI is dependent upon time after injury.