Abstract
Objective: Individuals with different severities of traumatic brain injury (TBI) often suffer long-lasting motor, sensory, neurological, or cognitive disturbances. To date, no neuromodulation-based therapies have been used to manage the functional deficits associated with TBI. Cortical electrical stimulation (CES) has been increasingly developed for modulating brain plasticity and is considered to have therapeutic potential in TBI. However, the therapeutic value of such a technique for TBI is still unclear. Accordingly, an animal model of this disease would be helpful for mechanistic insight into using CES as a novel treatment approach in TBI. The current study aims to apply a novel CES scheme with a theta-burst stimulation (TBS) protocol to identify the therapeutic potential of CES in a weight drop-induced rat model of TBI.Methods: TBI rats were divided into the sham CES treatment group and CES treatment group. Following early and long-term CES intervention (starting 24 h after TBI, 1 session/day, 5 days/week) in awake TBI animals for a total of 4 weeks, the effects of CES on the modified neurological severity score (mNSS), sensorimotor and cognitive behaviors and neuroinflammatory changes were identified.Results: We found that the 4-week CES intervention significantly alleviated the TBI-induced neurological, sensorimotor, and cognitive deficits in locomotor activity, sensory and recognition memory. Immunohistochemically, we found that CES mitigated the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) activation in the hippocampus.Conclusion: These findings suggest that CES has significant benefits in alleviating TBI-related symptoms and represents a promising treatment for TBI.
Highlights
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common brain injury caused by an external mechanical force, such as rapid acceleration or deceleration impact, crushing, or projectile penetration (Faul et al, 2010)
We found that the 4-week cortical electrical stimulation (CES) intervention significantly alleviated the TBI-induced neurological, sensorimotor, and cognitive deficits in locomotor activity, sensory and recognition memory
Recent research suggests that Repetitive transcranial magnetical stimulation (rTMS) or CES can alter the neural activities via plasticity-like mechanisms, which have been applied for the treatment of neurological or psychiatric disorders and might have the therapeutic potential for TBI (Gaynes et al, 2014; Kamble et al, 2014; Sokal et al, 2019; Zaninotto et al, 2019; Pink et al, 2021)
Summary
Individuals with different severities of traumatic brain injury (TBI) often suffer long-lasting motor, sensory, neurological, or cognitive disturbances. No neuromodulation-based therapies have been used to manage the functional deficits associated with TBI. Cortical electrical stimulation (CES) has been increasingly developed for modulating brain plasticity and is considered to have therapeutic potential in TBI. The therapeutic value of such a technique for TBI is still unclear. An animal model of this disease would be helpful for mechanistic insight into using CES as a novel treatment approach in TBI. The current study aims to apply a novel CES scheme with a theta-burst stimulation (TBS) protocol to identify the therapeutic potential of CES in a weight drop-induced rat model of TBI
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
