Journal of neurotrauma
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jun 1995
A new model for rapid stretch-induced injury of cells in culture: characterization of the model using astrocytes.
The purpose of this study was to develop a simple, reproducible model for examining the morphologic, physiologic, and biochemical consequences of stretch-induced injury on tissue-cultured cells of brain origin. Rat cortical astrocytes from 1- to 2-day-old rats were cultured to confluency in commercially available 25-mm-diameter tissue culture wells with a 2-mm-thick flexible silastic bottom. A cell injury controller was used to produce a closed system and exert a rapid positive pressure of known amplitude (psi) and duration (msec). ⋯ LDH release was also proportional to the amplitude of cell stretch, with maximum release occurring within 2 h of injury. In summary we have developed a simple, reproducible model to produce graded, strain-related injuries in cultured cells. Our continuing experiments suggest that this model can be used to study the biochemistry and physiology of injury as well as serve as a tool to examine the efficacy of therapeutic agents.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jun 1995
Posttraumatic brain hypothermia provides protection from sensorimotor and cognitive behavioral deficits.
The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of sensorimotor and cognitive protection conferred by posttraumatic brain hypothermia. Baseline measurements were taken on sensorimotor tasks involving forelimb placing and beam-walking, as well as on a spatial navigational task utilizing the water maze. Twenty-four hours after the last baseline measurements, normothermic (37 degrees C) animals were subjected to a fluid percussion pulse (1.9-2.4 atm) over the right parietal sensorimotor cortex. ⋯ In the water maze, there was a distinction between groups in the ability to navigate 48 h after TBI. TBI-N animals performed significantly worse than sham and TBI-H animals (both p < 0.01), whereas there was no significant difference between the scores of sham and TBI-H animals. The present data demonstrate that moderate postinjury brain hypothermia can provide protection from sensorimotor and cognitive behavioral deficits as well as neuropathology in a model of traumatic brain injury associated with early neuronal and microvascular injury.