Assessing Changes in Synaptic Plasticity Using an Awake Closed-Head Injury Model of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs) are a prevalent health issue in North America. There is increasing pressure to utilize ecologically valid models of closed-head mTBI in the preclinical setting to increase translatability to the clinical population. The awake closed-headed injury (ACHI) model uses a modified controlled cortical impactor to deliver closed-headed injury, inducing clinically relevant behavioral deficits without the need for a craniotomy or the use of an anesthetic. This technique does not normally induce fatalities, skull fractures, or brain bleeds, and is more consistent with being a mild injury. Indeed, the mild nature of the ACHI procedure makes it ideal for studies investigating repetitive mTBI (r-mTBI). Growing evidence indicates that r-mTBI can result in a cumulative injury that produces behavioral symptoms, neuropathological changes, and neurodegeneration. r-mTBI is common in youths playing sports, and these injuries occur during a period of robust synaptic reorganization and myelination, making the younger population particularly vulnerable to the long-term influences of r-mTBI. Further, r-mTBI occurs in cases of intimate partner violence, a condition for which there are few objective screening measures. In these experiments, synaptic function was assessed in the hippocampus in juvenile rats that had experienced r-mTBI using the ACHI model. Following the injuries, a tissue slicer was utilized to make hippocampal slices to evaluate bidirectional synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus at either 1 or 7 days following the r-mTBI. Overall, the ACHI model provides researchers with an ecologically valid model to study changes in synaptic plasticity following mTBI and r-mTBI.