Bridging the Gap of Standardized Animals Models for Blast Neurotrauma: Methodology for Appropriate Experimental Testing.
Recent military combat has heightened awareness to the complexity of blast-related traumatic brain injuries (bTBI). Experiments using animal, cadaver, or biofidelic physical models remain the primary measures to investigate injury biomechanics as well as validate computational simulations, medical diagnostics and therapies, or protection technologies. However, blast injury research has seen a range of irregular and inconsistent experimental methods for simulating blast insults generating results which may be misleading, cannot be cross-correlated between laboratories, or referenced to any standard for exposure. Both the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command and the National Institutes of Health have noted that there is a lack of standardized preclinical models of TBI. It is recommended that the blast injury research community converge on a consistent set of experimental procedures and reporting of blast test conditions. This chapter describes the blast conditions which can be recreated within a laboratory setting and methodology for testing in vivo models within the appropriate environment.
Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, 447 Kelly Hall, 325 Stanger St., Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA. pvord@vt.edu.
Pamela J
PJ
VandeVord
John D Dingell VAMC, Detroit, MI, 48201, USA.
Alessandra Dal Cengio
AD
Leonardi
Dyn-FX Consulting Ltd, Amherstburg, ON, Canada.
David
D
Ritzel
D000818:Animals; D001753:Blast Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D020196:Trauma, Nervous System / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*
Advance blast simulators; Animal models; Blast; Dynamic pressure; Neurotrauma; Standard methods; Static pressure