Studies on blast traumatic brain injury using in-vitro model with shock tube

One of the major limitations in studying the mechanisms of blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) or screening therapeutics for protection is the lack of suitable laboratory model systems that can closely mimic the complex blast exposure. Although animal models of bTBI that use shock tubes to mimic blast exposure are available, no high throughput shock tube-based in-vitro models have been reported. Here, we report an in-vitro bTBI model using a compressed air-driven shock tube and mouse neuroblastoma/rat glioblastoma hybrid cells (NG108-15) or SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells in tissue culture plates. Our data showed significant neurobiological effects with decreased adenosine triphosphate levels, increased cellular injury, lactate dehydrogenase release, and reactive oxygen species formation after blast exposure.