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Light and electron microscopic assessment of progressive atrophy following moderate traumatic brain injury in the rat

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Abstract

The presence of progressive white matter atrophy following traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been reported in humans as well as in animal models. However, a quantitative analysis of progressive alterations in myelinated axons and other cellular responses to trauma has not been conducted. This study examined quantitative differences in myelinated axons from several white and gray matter structures between non-traumatized and traumatized areas at several time points up to 1 year. We hypothesize that axonal numbers decrease over time within the structures analyzed, based on our previous work demonstrating shrinkage of tissue in these vulnerable areas. Intubated, anesthetized male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to moderate (1.8–2.2 atm) parasagittal fluid-percussion brain injury, and perfused at various intervals after surgery. Sections from the fimbria, external capsule, thalamus and cerebral cortex from the ipsilateral hemisphere of traumatized and sham-operated animals were prepared and. estimated total numbers of myelinated axons were determined by systematic random sampling. Electron micrographs were obtained for ultrastructural analysis. A significant (P<0.05) reduction in the number of myelinated axons in the traumatized hemisphere compared to control in all structures was observed. In addition, thalamic and cortical axonal counts decreased significantly (P<0.05) over time. Swollen axons and macrophage/microglia infiltration were present as late as 6 months post-TBI in various structures. This study is the first to describe quantitatively chronic axonal changes in vulnerable brains regions after injury. Based on these data, a time-dependent decrease in the number of myelinated axons is seen to occur in vulnerable gray matter regions including the cerebral cortex and thalamus along with distinct morphological changes within white matter tracts after TBI. Although this progressive axonal response to TBI may include Wallerian degeneration, other potential mechanisms underlying this progressive pathological response within the white matter are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the Electron Microscopy Core and the Image Analysis Core of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, especially Dr. Beata Frydel, for their support and facilities to accomplish this study. We wish to thank Robert Camarena for his assistance in photography, Ofelia Alonso for her excellent technical assistance and Dr. W. Dalton Dietrich for his helpful suggestions in preparing this manuscript. This research was supported by Army Grant DAMD17-02-1-0190.

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  1. Neurotrauma Research Center, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA

    Alejandra C. Rodriguez-Paez, J. P. Brunschwig & Helen M. Bramlett

  2. Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Miami, 1095 NW 14th Terrace, Miami, FL, 33136, USA

    Helen M. Bramlett

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  1. Alejandra C. Rodriguez-Paez
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Rodriguez-Paez, A.C., Brunschwig, J.P. & Bramlett, H.M. Light and electron microscopic assessment of progressive atrophy following moderate traumatic brain injury in the rat. Acta Neuropathol 109, 603–616 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-005-1010-z

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