Controlled Cortical Impact Severity Results in Graded Cellular, Tissue, and Functional Responses in a Piglet Traumatic Brain Injury Model.

A number of pre-clinical rodent models have been developed in an effort to recapitulate injury mechanisms and identify potential therapeutics for traumatic brain injury (TBI), which is a major cause of death and long-term disability in the United States. The lack of restorative treatments for TBI, however, has led to considerable criticism of current pre-clinical therapeutic development strategies-namely, the translatability of widely used rodent models to human patients. The use of large animal models, such as the pig, with more brain anatomy and physiology comparable to humans may enhance the translational capacity of current pre-clinical animal models.

Development and characterization of a Yucatan miniature biomedical pig permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion stroke model.

Background: Efforts to develop stroke treatments have met with limited success despite an intense need to produce novel treatments. The failed translation of many of these therapies in clinical trials has lead to a close examination of the therapeutic development process. One of the major factors believed to be limiting effective screening of these treatments is the absence of an animal model more predictive of human responses to treatments.