Citation

Nonaka M, Taylor WW, Bukalo O, Tucker LT, Fu AH, Kim Y, McCabe JT, Holmes A. J. Neurotrauma 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2020.7254

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In civilian and military settings, mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a common consequence of impacts to the head, sudden blows to the body, and exposure to high-energy atmospheric shockwaves from the blast. In some cases, mTBI from blast exposure results in long-term emotional and cognitive deficits and an elevated risk for certain neuropsychiatric diseases. Here, we tested the effects of mTBI on various forms of auditory-cued fear learning and other measures of cognition in male C57BL/6J mice following single or repeated blast exposure (bTBI). bTBI produced an abnormality in the temporal organization of cue-induced freezing behavior in a conditioned trace fear test. Spatial working memory, evaluated by the Y-maze task performance, was also deleteriously affected by bTBI. RT-qPCR analysis for glial markers indicated an alteration in the expression of myelin-related genes in the hippocampus and corpus callosum one to eight weeks after bTBI. Immunohistochemical and ultrastructural analyses detected bTBI-related myelin and axonal damage in the hippocampus and corpus callosum. Together these data suggest a possible link between blast-induced mTBI, myelin/axonal injury, and cognitive dysfunction.

Language: en

Keywords

Behavior; TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY; ANIMAL STUDIES; COGNITIVE FUNCTION; MOLECULAR BIOLOGICAL APPROACHES