Closed head injury in rats: histopathological aspects in an experimental weight drop model.

Purpose: To study histopathological findings due to a model of closed head injury by weight loss in rats.

Methods: A platform was used to induce closed cranial lesion controlled by weight loss with a known and predefined energy. 25 male Wistar rats (Rattus novergicus albinus) were divided in five equal groups which received different cranial impact energy levels: G1, G2, G3 and G4 with 0.

Inhalation anesthesia equipment for rats with provision of simultaneous anesthetic and oxygen.

Purpose: To introduce a model of equipment for inhalation anesthesia in rats that offers better control of both flow and losses of ether during induction, maintenance, and recuperation.

Methods: The equipment consists of an air compressor with two outlets, a closed glass induction chamber, a glass reservoir for the anesthetic agent, a pediatric inhalation mask, a three-way stopcock, a Y-connector, and urinary catheters. Three hundred Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus albinus) were given inhalation anesthesia.

Traumatic brain injury: clinical and pathological parameters in an experimental weightdrop model.

Purpose: To investigate the function of an experimental cranium trauma model in rats.

Methods: The equipment, already described in the literature and under discreet adaptations, is composed by a platform that produces closed head impact controlled by weight drop with pre-defined and known energy. 25 Wistar male rats (Rattus norvegicus albinus) were divided into five equal groups that received different quantities of cranial impact energy: G1, G2, G3 and G4 with 0,234J, 0,5J, 0,762J and 1J respectively and G5 (Sham).