Brain research
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Behavioral analysis commonly assesses cognitive deficits in rodents following traumatic brain injury (TBI). We examined rats that received sham, mild or moderate injury in the controlled cortical impact model of TBI. The rats were tested in a novel hierarchy of four behavioral tasks with increasing cognitive demand. ⋯ Moderately-injured animals were also impaired if tested 3 weeks after injury. One day after phase three, sham- and mildly-injured animals were tested on a phase four conflict active avoidance task with the shock zone shifted 180 degrees from its phase three location and mildly-injured animals were impaired. The speed in which the animals complete the four phases of testing as well as the ability to discriminate between differing injury severity suggests that this set of neurobehavioral tasks will be useful to understand cognitive deficits underlying TBI as well as a useful screening method for therapeutic drugs.
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The rostroventromedial medulla (RVM) is an important source of descending modulatory systems that both inhibit and facilitate pain at the level of the spinal cord. Noxious stimuli can activate serotonergic neurons in the RVM and accelerate the turnover of 5-HT in the spinal cord. While numerous studies suggest a bidirectional role for serotonergic transmission at the spinal level, the subtypes of the 5-HT receptors that are associated with descending facilitation or inhibition have not been clearly determined. ⋯ In contrast, hyperalgesia induced by RVM-CCK was blocked by spinal ondansetron, but not by SB-269970. The antinociceptive effects of systemic morphine were also blocked by spinal SB-269970 but not ondansetron while hyperalgesia and allodynia resulting from SNL injury were blocked by spinal ondansetron, but not SB-269970. These studies suggest that descending pain inhibitory or facilitatory pathways from RVM act ultimately in the spinal cord in acute and chronic pain states through activation of 5-HT7 and 5-HT3 receptors, respectively.
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N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptors play an important role in the development of hypersensitivity to visceral and somatic stimuli following inflammation or tissue injury. Our objective was to investigate the role of NMDA NR1 receptors in the spinal cord (T10-L1; L4-S1) of a subset of rats that remain hypersensitive following the histological resolution of TNBS-induced colitis compared to saline treated rats and rats that had recovered both behaviorally and histologically. We hypothesized that NMDA NR1 subunit expression mediates hypersensitivity following transient TNBS colitis. ⋯ Selective increases in the expression of the NMDA NR1 splice variants occur in hypersensitive rats following resolution of TNBS colitis. This suggests that the NMDA NR1 receptor plays an important role in the development of neuronal plasticity and central sensitization. The recombination of NR1 splice variants may serve as a key functional protein that maintains hypersensitivity following resolution of TNBS colitis.
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Though diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) is frequently used for identifying the ischemic lesion in focal cerebral ischemia, the understanding of spatiotemporal evolution patterns observed with different analysis methods remains imprecise. DWI and calculated apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps were serially obtained in rat stroke models (MCAO): permanent, 90 min, and 180 min temporary MCAO. Lesion volumes were analyzed in a blinded and randomized manner by 2 investigators using (i) a previously validated ADC threshold, (ii) visual determination of hypointense regions on ADC maps, and (iii) visual determination of hyperintense regions on DWI. ⋯ Visually determined lesion volumes on ADC maps and DWI by both investigators correlated significantly with threshold-derived lesion volumes on ADC maps with the former method demonstrating a stronger correlation. There was also a better interrater agreement for ADC map analysis than for DWI analysis. Ischemic lesion determination by ADC was more accurate in final infarct prediction, rater independent, and provided exclusive information on ischemic lesion reversibility.
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Physical exercise is likely to alter brain function and to afford neuroprotection in several neurological diseases. Although the favorable effects of physical exercise on traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients is well known, little information is available regarding the role of free radicals in the improvement induced by physical exercise in an experimental model of TBI induced by fluid percussion injury (FPI). Thus, we investigated whether 6 weeks of swimming training protects against oxidative damage (measured by protein carbonylation and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances-TBARS) and neurochemical alterations represented by immunodetection of alpha subunit and activity of Na(+),K(+)-ATPase after FPI in cerebral cortex of rats. ⋯ Furthermore, the effective protection exerted by physical training against FPI-induced free radical correlated with the immunocontent of the catalytic alpha(1) subunit maintenance. These data suggest that TBI-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation decreases Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity by decreasing the total number of enzyme molecules, and that physical exercise protects against this effect. Therefore, the effective protection of selected targets, such as Na(+),K(+)-ATPase induced by physical training, supports the idea that physical training may exert prophylactic effects on neuronal cell dysfunction and damage associated with TBI.