Abstract
Blast exposure has been identified to be the most common cause for traumatic brain injury (TBI) in soldiers. Over the years, rodent models to mimic blast exposures and the behavioral outcomes observed in veterans have been developed extensively. However, blast tube design and varying experimental parameters lead to inconsistencies in the behavioral outcomes reported across research laboratories. This review aims to curate the behavioral outcomes reported in rodent models of blast TBI using shockwave tubes or open field detonations between the years 2008–2019 and highlight the important experimental parameters that affect behavioral outcome. Further, we discuss the role of various design parameters of the blast tube that can affect the nature of blast exposure experienced by the rodents. Finally, we assess the most common behavioral tests done to measure cognitive, motor, anxiety, auditory, and fear conditioning deficits in blast TBI (bTBI) and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these tests.
Highlights
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is one of the most prevalent causes for disability and a reduced quality of life among military personnel
We have attempted in this review to summarize the various behavioral models used to study common behavioral outcomes
The advantages and shortcomings of the tests most commonly used in literature have been summarized in Table
Summary
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is one of the most prevalent causes for disability and a reduced quality of life among military personnel. About 380,000 military personnel have been diagnosed with TBI since 2000 according to the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) [1]. Most of the soldiers with blast TBI (bTBI) develop cognitive, behavioral and psychological deficits such as PTSD, attention deficits, headaches, anxiety, depression, memory loss, suicidal ideation, tinnitus and vestibular deficiencies [3,4,5,6]. The etiology of these deficits following a blast injury is unclear.
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