Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 20, 2026
Investigations on Alterations of Hippocampal Circuit Function Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: November 19, 2012
Prolonged hippocampal cell death following closed-head traumatic brain injury in rats
Shigeharu Tsuda1, Jiamei Hou, Rachel L Nelson
1aBrain Rehabilitation Research Center of Excellence, Malcom Randall VA Medical Center, North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System bDepartment of Physiological Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine Departments of cNeuroscience dNeurology, McKnight Brain Institute, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
Abstract:
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) leads to enduring cognitive disorders. Although recent evidence has shown that controlled cortical impact in a rodent may induce memory deficits with prolonged cell death in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus, few studies have reported long-term chronic hippocampal cell death following 'closed-head' TBI (cTBI), the predominant form of human TBI. Therefore, the aim of this study was to quantify terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL)(+) apoptotic hippocampal cells as well as hippocampal cells with hallmark morphological features of degenerating cells in a chronic setting of cTBI in rats. TUNEL assays and Cresyl violet staining were performed using 6-month post-TBI fixed hippocampal sections. Evidence of prolonged hippocampal cell death was shown by the presence of a significantly increased number of TUNEL(+) cells in the cornu ammonis 1-3 (CA1-CA3) and DG of the hippocampus compared with intact controls. In addition, Cresyl violet staining indicated a significantly elevated number of cells with the degenerative morphological features in all hippocampal subregions (CA1-CA3, hilus, and DG). These results suggest that prolonged cell death may occur in multiple regions of the hippocampus following cTBI.
