Three months of chronic ethanol administration and the behavioral outcome of rats after lateral fluid percussion brain injury

James Masse, Barry Billings, Harabhajan S. Dhillon, Derek Mace, Ramona Hicks, Susan Barron, Phillip J. Kraemer, Peter Dendle, Renuka M. Prasad

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

This study examined the effects of 3 months of chronic ethanol administration (CEAn) on the behavioral outcome in rats after lateral fluid percussion (FP) brain injury. Rats were given either an ethanol liquid diet (ethanol diet groups) or a pair-fed isocaloric sucrose control diet (control diet groups) for 3 months. Then, rats from both diet groups were subjected to either lateral FP brain injury of moderate severity (1.8 atm) or to sham operation. Postinjury behavioral measurements revealed that brain injury caused significant spatial learning disability in both diet groups. There were no significant differences in spatial learning ability in the sham or brain-injured animals between the control and ethanol diets. However, a trend towards cognitive impairment in the sham animals and a trend towards reduced deficits in the brain-injured animals were observed in the ethanol diet group. Histologic analysis of injured animals from both diet groups revealed similar extents of ipsilateral cortical and hippocampal CA3 damage. These results, in general, suggest that 3 months of CEAn does not significantly alter the behavioral and morphologic outcome of experimental brain injury.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)421-430
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Neurotrauma
Volume17
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2000

Keywords

  • Behavioral deficits
  • Chronic ethanol administration
  • Fluid percussion brain injury

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Neurology

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