ABSTRACT
To determine whether the exposure to long term enriched environment (EE) would result in a continuous improvement of neurological recovery and ameliorate the loss of brain tissue after traumatic brain injury (TBI) vs. standard housing (SH). Male Sprague-Dawley rats (300-350 g, n=28) underwent lateral fluid percussion brain injury or SHAM operation. One TBI group was held under complex EE for 90 days, the other under SH. Neuromotor and sensorimotor dysfunction and recovery were assessed after injury and at days 7, 15, and 90 via Composite Neuroscore (NS), RotaRod test, and Barnes Circular Maze (BCM). Cortical tissue loss was assessed using serial brain sections. After day 7 EE animals showed similar latencies and errors as SHAM in the BCM. SH animals performed notably worse with differences still significant on day 90 (p<0.001). RotaRod test and NS revealed superior results for EE animals after day 7. The mean cortical volume was significantly higher in EE vs. SH animals (p=0.003). In summary, EE animals after lateral fluid percussion (LFP) brain injury performed significantly better than SH animals after 90 days of recovery. The window of opportunity may be wide and also lends further credibility to the importance of long term interventions in patients suffering from TBI.
Subject(s)
Behavior, Animal , Brain Injuries/rehabilitation , Environment, Controlled , Nerve Regeneration , Sensorimotor Cortex/physiopathology , Animals , Brain Injuries/pathology , Brain Injuries/physiopathology , Brain Injuries/psychology , Disease Models, Animal , Housing, Animal , Male , Maze Learning , Motor Activity , Organ Size , Rats, Sprague-Dawley , Recovery of Function , Rotarod Performance Test , Sensorimotor Cortex/pathology , Spatial Behavior , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is a very rare disorder, caused by lesions of the dominant brain hemisphere and defined as a loss of normal phonetic contrast when using the mother language. The pronunciation is perceived by native speakers as compromised by a foreign accent. This study reports about a 35-years old woman, with a FAS following a brain injury with a traumatic left temporal haemorrhage, who experienced excellent remission after 2 years.
