Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 25, 2025
Systems Analysis of the Neuroinflammatory and Hemodynamic Response to Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: May 27, 2022
Development and Application of a Novel Pressure System for Evaluating Trauma Severities Using a Physiological
Raphael Santos do Nascimento1, Jefferson Luiz Brum Marques1, Adair Roberto Soares Santos2
1Programa de Pós-graduação em Engenharia Elétrica, Centro Tecnológico, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil; Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica, Departamento de Engenharia Elétrica e Eletrônica, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
Objective:
The fluid percussion injury (FPI) model is a surgical method for mimicking traumatic brain injury (TBI) models as it automatically and accurately measures peak impact pressure. Nevertheless, its elevated costs have led numerous researchers to develop more inexpensive alternative methods. Therefore, we used a copy of the classic FPI device to develop a novel method to evaluate the pressure pulse and determine injury severity with even more precision during the surgical procedure to induce an injury.
Methods:
The electronic components, algorithms, and hardware assembly were initially studied. Adult male Wistar rats received 2 different impact forces, and our novel system measured the pressure pulse in atmospheres to verify the differences between mild and moderate severity and the physiological alterations.
Results:
The newly developed system was capable of detecting differences between mild and moderate severity, and severity parameters (e.g., apnea and unconsciousness) were more significant in animals with more moderate FPI than those with mild FPI. Additionally, electrocardiographic signals were modified 1 day after TBI, and mild and moderate FPI decreased R-wave peak to R-wave peak intervals (increased heart rate) and high frequency (HF) index as well as increased low frequency (LF) and low frequency/high frequency ratio indices. All electrocardiographic parameters evaluated were more expressive in the more moderate FPI than in the mild one, corroborating clinical heart impairments after TBI.
Conclusions:
The method developed to evaluate pressure pulse in an FPI model proved capable of precisely determining different degrees of injury.
