Neurobehavioral functional deficits following closed head injury in the neonatal pig.
Neurobehavioral deficits in higher cortical systems have not been described previously in a large animal model of diffuse brain injury. Anesthetized 3-5 day old piglets were subjected to either mild (142 rad/s) or moderate (188 rad/s) rapid non-impact axial rotations of the head. Multiple domains of cortical function were evaluated 5 times during the 12 day post-injury period using tests of neurobehavioral function devised for piglets. There were no observed differences in neurobehavioral outcomes between mild injury pigs (N=8) and instrumented shams (N=4). Moderately injured piglets (N=7) had significantly lower interest in exploring their environment and had higher failure rates in visual-based problem solving compared to instrumented shams (N=5) on days 1 and 4 after injury. Neurobehavioral functional deficits correlated with neuropathologic damage in the neonatal pigs after inertial head injury. Injured axons detected by immunohistochemistry (beta-APP) were absent in mild injury and sham piglets, but were observed in moderately injured piglet brains. In summary, we have developed a quantitative battery of neurobehavioral functional assessments for large animals that correlate with neuropathologic axonal damage and may have wide applications in the fields of cardiac resuscitation, stroke, and hypoxic-ischemic brain injury.
Friess
Stuart H
SH
Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Ichord
Rebecca N
RN
Owens
Kristin
K
Ralston
Jill
J
Rizol
Rebecca
R
Overall
Karen L
KL
Smith
Colin
C
Helfaer
Mark A
MA
Margulies
Susan S
SS
D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D016489:Head Injuries, Closed / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009420:Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D012201:Reward; D012399:Rotation; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013552:Swine
D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor