title: Use of zinc as a treatment for traumatic brain injury in the rat: effects on cognitive and behavioral outcomes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  While treatments for the behavioral deficits associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI) are currently limited, animal models suggest that zinc supplementation may increase resilience to TBI.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This work tests the hypothesis that zinc supplementation after TBI can be used as treatment to improve behavioral outcomes such as anxiety, depression, and learning and memory.
  
  
  METHODS
  TBI was induced by controlled cortical impact to the medial frontal cortex. After TBI, rats were fed either a zinc adequate (ZA, 30 ppm) or zinc supplemented (ZS, 180 ppm) diet. Additional rats in each dietary group (ZA or ZS) were given a single intraperitoneal (ip) injection of zinc (30 mg/kg) 1 hour following injury.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Brain injury resulted in significant increases in anxiety-like and depression-like behaviors as well as impairments in learning and memory. None of the zinc treatments (dietary or ip zinc) improved TBI-induced anxiety. The 2-bottle saccharin preference test for anhedonia revealed that dietary ZS also did not improve depression-like behaviors. However, dietary ZS combined with an early ip zinc injection significantly reduced anhedonia (P < .001). Dietary supplementation after injury, but not zinc injection, significantly improved (P < .05) cognitive behavior as measured by the time spent finding the hidden platform in the Morris water maze test compared with injured rats fed a ZA diet.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data suggest that zinc supplementation may be an effective treatment option for improving behavioral deficits such as cognitive impairment and depression following TBI.
authors.affiliation: Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Elise C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Cope
authors.forename: Deborah R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: Angus G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Scrimgeour
authors.forename: Cathy W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Levenson
mesh_terms: D059445:Anhedonia / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003863:Depression / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D007267:Injections; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012439:Saccharin; D015032:Zinc / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D012439:Saccharin; D015032:Zinc