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Minimal Traumatic Brain Injury Induce Apoptotic Cell Death in Mice

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Abstract

In the United States, 1.4 million people suffer from traumatic brain injury (TBI) each year because of traffic, sports, or war-related injuries. The majority of TBI victims suffer mild to minimal TBI (mTBI), but most are released undiagnosed. Detailed pathologies are poorly understood. We characterized the microscopic changes of neurons of closed-head mTBI mice after increased unilateral trauma using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain, and correlated it with the expression of the apoptotic proteins c-jun, p53, and BCL-2. Minimal damage to the brain increases the number of pyknotic appearing neurons and activates the apoptotic proteins in both hemispheres. Although minimal, increased impact was positively correlated with the increased number of damaged neurons. These results may explain the wide variety of behavioral and cognitive deficits closed-head mTBI causes in mice. Our cumulative results point to the pathological origin of post-concussion syndrome and may aid in the development of future neuroprotective strategies for the disease.

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Abbreviations

TBI:

traumatic brain injury

mTBI:

minimal traumatic brain injury

BBB:

blood–brain barrier

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Anesthesia, Pain and Neural Research, Bruce Rapaport Medical Faculty, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    V. Tashlykov, Y. Katz & V. Gazit

  2. Department Neurology, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel

    V. Tashlykov

  3. Department Anesthesiology, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, Israel

    Y. Katz

  4. Department Pathology, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel

    A. Volkov

  5. Department Psychiatry, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel

    S. Schreiber

  6. Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University , Tel-Aviv, Israel

    S. Schreiber

  7. Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute, Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus, 9601 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA

    O. Zohar

  8. Department Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel

    C. G. Pick

  9. Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, 69978, Israel

    C. G. Pick

Authors
  1. V. Tashlykov
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  2. Y. Katz
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  3. A. Volkov
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  4. V. Gazit
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  5. S. Schreiber
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  6. O. Zohar
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  7. C. G. Pick
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. G. Pick.

Additional information

Ofer Zohar and Chaim G. Pick contributed equally to this work.

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Tashlykov, V., Katz, Y., Volkov, A. et al. Minimal Traumatic Brain Injury Induce Apoptotic Cell Death in Mice. J Mol Neurosci 37, 16–24 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-008-9094-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-008-9094-2

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