title: The effect of varying impact energy on diffuse axonal injury in the rat brain: a preliminary study.
abstract: Diffuse axonal injury (DAI) is seen as widespread damage in the white matter of brain characterized by morphological changes to axons throughout the brain and brain stem. The current study attempted to investigate the effect of increasing impact energy on the presence and severity of DAI in corpus callosum (CC). DAI was induced in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats using an injury model adapted from Marmarou et al. in 1994. A 450-g cylindrical brass weight was dropped from three different heights (2.0 m, 1.5 m and 1.0 m) on to a metal helmet affixed to the skull of the rats. In the sham group, rats underwent a surgical procedure with no impact. After a 24-h survival period the animals were transcardially perfused. The brain was removed and the cerebral hemispheres were sectioned with a vibrotome and stained by silver impregnation technique. The CC of all the impacted rats showed DAI in the form of beaded axons, retraction balls and vacuole-like enlargements. The axonal injury was most severe in the 2-m group, while mildest in the 1-m group. In the sham group, axons appeared to be normal. This study demonstrates evidence of graded DAI depending on the impact energy. Such data is useful for mathematical modeling of axonal injury in rat brain using the same impact parameters and potential determination of injury thresholds for neural trauma.
authors.affiliation: Bioengineering Center, 818 W Hancock, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA. kallak@rrb.eng.wayne.edu
authors.forename: Srinivasu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kallakuri
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Cavanaugh
authors.forename: A Cuneyt
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Ozaktay
authors.forename: Tsuneo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takebayashi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000293:injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D020833:Diffuse Axonal Injury / Q000473:pathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D016622:Silver Staining / Q000379:methods