Erythropoietin improved cognitive function and decreased hippocampal caspase activity in rat pups after traumatic brain injury.

ABSTRACT:

Unlabelled

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of acquired neurologic disability in children. Erythropoietin (EPO), an anti-apoptotic cytokine, improved cognitive outcome in adult rats after TBI. To our knowledge, EPO has not been studied in a developmental TBI model.

Hypothesis

We hypothesized that EPO would improve cognitive outcome and increase neuron fraction in the hippocampus in 17-day-old (P17) rat pups after controlled cortical impact (CCI).

Methods

EPO or vehicle was given at 1, 24, and 48 h after CCI and at post injury day (PID) 7. Cognitive outcome at PID14 was assessed using Novel Object Recognition (NOR). Hippocampal EPO levels, caspase activity, and mRNA levels of the apoptosis factors Bcl2, Bax, Bcl-xL, and Bad were measured during the first

SUBMITTER: Schober ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3922399 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature