title: Chronic folic acid administration confers no treatment effects in either a high or low dose following unilateral controlled cortical impact injury in the rat.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major health concern today and effective treatments must be developed in order to combat the numerous TBIs that occur each year. Multiple b-vitamins have been shown to have neuroprotective effects, however, folic acid (B9) has not been widely studied. The current study examined two different doses in a rodent model of controlled cortical impact (CCI) TBI.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sham procedures or a unilateral parietal controlled cortical impact injury was induced. Rats were administered either vehicle or folic acid in an 80 μg/kg or 800 μg/kg dose. Rats were tested on the bilateral tactile adhesive removal task, rotarod task and the Morris water maze. Brains were examined to determine lesion size and neuronal loss.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Neither of the folic acid-treated groups showed improvement on any behavioral task or anatomical measure post-CCI and the high dose group had increased neuronal loss compared to the vehicle. Administration of the high dose in sham animals resulted in some behavioral dysfunction and significant neuronal loss.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results from this study suggest that folic acid may not represent an effective avenue for treatment and that higher doses may actually be detrimental following TBI.
authors.affiliation: Restorative Neuroscience Laboratory, Center for Integrated Research in Cognitive and Neural Sciences, Department of Psychology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA.
authors.forename: Cole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vonder Haar
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Emery
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Hoane
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D005492:Folic Acid