Combining Multiple Types of Motor Rehabilitation Enhances Skilled Forelimb Use Following Experimental Traumatic Brain Injury in Rats.

Background: Neuroplasticity and neurorehabilitation have been extensively studied in animal models of stroke to guide clinical rehabilitation of stroke patients. Similar studies focused on traumatic brain injury (TBI) are lacking.

Objective: The current study was designed to examine the effects of individual and combined rehabilitative approaches, previously shown to be beneficial following stroke, in an animal model of moderate/severe TBI, the controlled cortical impact (CCI).

Targeted gene inactivation of calpain-1 suppresses cortical degeneration due to traumatic brain injury and neuronal apoptosis induced by oxidative stress.

Calpains are calcium-regulated cysteine proteases that have been implicated in the regulation of cell death pathways. Here, we used our calpain-1 null mouse model to evaluate the function of calpain-1 in neural degeneration following a rodent model of traumatic brain injury. In vivo, calpain-1 null mice show significantly less neural degeneration and apoptosis and a smaller contusion 3 days post-injury than wild type littermates.