title: Developing a clinically relevant model of cognitive training after experimental traumatic brain injury.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Following traumatic brain injury (TBI), clinical cognitive training paradigms harness implicit and explicit learning and memory systems to improve function; however, these systems are differentially affected by TBI, highlighting the need for an experimental TBI model that can test efficacy of cognitive training approaches.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To develop a clinically relevant experimental cognitive training model using the Morris water maze (MWM) wherein training on implicitly learned task components was provided to improve behavioral performance post-TBI.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-one adult male rats were divided by injury status (controlled cortical impact [CCI]/Sham), non-spatial cognitive training (CogTrained/No-CogTrained), and extra-maze cues (Cued/Non-Cued) during MWM testing. Platform latencies, thigmotaxis, and search strategies were assessed during MWM trials.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cognitive training was associated with improved platform latencies, reduced thigmotaxis, and more effective search strategy use for Sham and CCI rats. In the Cued and Non-Cued MWM paradigm, there were no differences between CCI/CogTrained and Sham/No-CogTrained groups. During novel testing conditions, CogTrained groups applied implicitly learned knowledge/skills; however, sham-cued CogTrained/rats better incorporated extramaze cues into their search strategy than the CCI-Cued group. Cognitive training had no effects on contusion size or hippocampal cell survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results provide evidence that CCI-CogTrained rats that learned the nonspatial components of the MWM task applied these skills during multiple conditions of the place-learning task, thereby mitigating cognitive deficits typically associated with this injury model. The results show that a systematic application of clinically relevant constructs associated with cognitive training paradigms can be used with experimental TBI to affect place learning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pittsburgh.
authors.forename: Samuel W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Brayer
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pittsburgh.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ketcham
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Safar Center for Resuscitation Research, University of Pittsburgh.
authors.forename: Huichao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pittsburgh.
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hurwitz
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pittsburgh.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pittsburgh.
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fuletra
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pittsburgh.
authors.forename: Krishma
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Pittsburgh.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Skidmore
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh.
authors.forename: Edda
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Thiels
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Safar Center for Resuscitation Research, University of Pittsburgh wagnerak@upmc.edu.
authors.forename: Amy K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Wagner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D003463:Cues; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011187:Posture; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011930:Reaction Time; D013550:Swimming / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Morris water maze; cognitive training; controlled cortical impact; implicit learning and memory; traumatic brain injury