Abstract
In current military conflicts and civilian terrorism, blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) is the primary cause of neurotrauma. However, the effects and mechanisms of bTBI are poorly understood. Although previous researchers have made significant contributions to establishing animal models for the simulation of bTBI, the precision and controllability of blast-induced injury in animal models must be improved. Therefore, we established a novel rat model to simulate blast-wave injury to the brain. To simulate different extents of bTBI injury, the animals were divided into moderate and severe injury groups. The miniature spherical explosives (pentaerythritol tetranitrate) used in each group were of different sizes (2.5 mm diameter in the moderate injury group and 3.0 mm diameter in the severe injury group). A specially designed apparatus was able to precisely adjust the positions of the miniature explosives and create eight rats with bTBI simultaneously, using a single electric detonator. Neurological functions, gross pathologies, histopathological changes and the expression levels of various biomarkers were examined after the explosion. Compared with the moderate injury group, there were significantly more neurological dysfunctions, cortical contusions, intraparenchymal hemorrhages, cortical expression of S-100β, myelin basic protein, neuron-specific enolase, IL-8, IL-10, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and HIF-1α in the severe injury group. These results demonstrate that we have created a reliable and reproducible bTBI model in rats. This model will be helpful for studying the mechanisms of bTBI and developing strategies for clinical bTBI treatment.
Highlights
Blast injuries, a type of complex physical trauma resulting from the wide use of explosive devices, have caused large numbers of casualties in military conflicts (Jaffee et al, 2009)
We describe and validate a novel blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) model in rats, which precisely positions the area of injury and controls the extent of damage
Accompanying with the rapid development of military technology, bTBI caused by explosive devices has become the predominant cause of casualties in modern warfare and civilian terrorism
Summary
A type of complex physical trauma resulting from the wide use of explosive devices, have caused large numbers of casualties in military conflicts (Jaffee et al, 2009). The extent of bTBI is affected by the parameters of the blast wave, including the peak pressure, duration, and shape of the pulse (Risling and Davidsson, 2012). These important parameters can vary depending on the environment and armor conditions. Other various factors such as penetrating fragments, body acceleration and deceleration, and thermal and chemical injuries further add to the complexity of bTBI (DePalma et al, 2005; Taber et al, 2006; Kluger et al, 2007) All of these factors make it quite difficult to collect enough information from epidemiological data and individual cases to study the mechanisms of bTBI. It is important to generate well-designed bTBI animal models
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