A new study was published entitled “Optimization of a Translational Murine Model of Closed-Head Traumatic Brain Injury” in Neurological Research by Dr. Bradley Kolls in the Department of Neurology. The team included Brian Mace, Eric Lassiter, Evangeline Arulraja, Eduardo Chaparro, Viviana Cantillana, Rupali Gupta, Timothy D. Faw, and Daniel Laskowitz. They systematically investigated variability sources in a clinically relevant closed-head model of traumatic brain injury in mice. They found that impactor displacement, not force or dwell time, precisely determines injury severity.
The group also identified that the same injury parameters induce different outcomes in male vs. female mice, with females experiencing more severe injuries at lower impactor displacements. These findings are important to the field and will improve clinically relevant preclinical and translational models of traumatic brain injury used to develop interventions for people with brain injury.