Restorative Neuroscience Laboratory, Center for Integrated Research in Cognitive and Neural Sciences, Department of Psychology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, USA.
Behav Brain Res. 2013 Mar 1;240:153-9. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.11.029. Epub 2012 Nov 28.
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) affect millions of people each year. Research investigating repeated or serial damage in the form of lesions indicates that behavioral deficits are reduced in animals given sequential lesions separated by a sufficient period of recovery. In the lesion literature, this phenomenon is known as the serial lesion effect (SLE). Although the SLE phenomenon is established in the lesion literature, it has not been thoroughly investigated under current models of brain injury. In the current study, a controlled cortical impact of the bilateral frontal cortex was performed in either a single procedure or a serial procedure separated by two weeks. Rats were tested on the Morris water maze, bilateral tactile adhesive removal task, rotarod and Barnes maze task to determine behavioral deficits. Histology was performed to determine lesion size and astrocyte and microglial response. A serial lesion effect was demonstrated across a majority of the behavioral tasks. However, histological analyses did not suggest a clear mechanistic link to the behavioral phenomena. This is the first study to demonstrate the SLE in a model of TBI, suggesting that behavioral deficits may actually be reduced in repeated head injuries, given an adequate time window between injuries.
创伤性脑损伤（TBI）每年影响数百万人。研究表明，以病变形式反复或连续损伤会导致动物的行为缺陷减少，如果损伤之间有足够的恢复期。在病变文献中，这种现象被称为连续病变效应（SLE）。尽管 SLE 现象在病变文献中已经确立，但在当前的脑损伤模型下尚未进行彻底研究。在当前的研究中，双侧额皮质采用单次或两次间隔两周的连续程序进行控制性皮质撞击。通过 Morris 水迷宫、双侧触觉粘附去除任务、转棒和 Barnes 迷宫任务对大鼠进行测试，以确定行为缺陷。进行组织学检查以确定病变大小以及星形胶质细胞和小胶质细胞的反应。大多数行为任务都表现出连续病变效应。然而，组织学分析并未表明与行为现象之间存在明确的机械联系。这是首次在 TBI 模型中证明 SLE 的研究，表明在两次损伤之间有足够的时间窗口，反复头部损伤实际上可能会减少行为缺陷。
