100 / 162
second (
+
33%) sets of a three-set MWM protocol. MWM behavior of
injured female rats was not significantly different from female control
rats. This study demonstrated some significant sex-based differences
in the magnitude and type of behavioral changes following rotational
acceleration TBI across multiple assessments characterizing post-in-
jury activity, emotionality, and cognitive deficits.
Keywords: angular acceleration, gender
D1-03
CREATING A KNOWLEDGE NETWORK FOR TBI RE-
SEARCH: THE ONE MIND PORTAL
Ramona Hicks
, Jeffrey Grethe
One Mind, Research, Seattle, USA
In 2011, the Institute of Medicine published a report entitled ‘‘To-
ward Precision Medicine: Building a Knowledge Network for Bio-
medical Research and a New Taxonomy of Disease’’. The
knowledge network was envisioned as a dynamic system for com-
piling, integrating and analyzing multiple types of clinical and re-
search data to discover cause and effect relationships on disease
outcomes. The traumatic brain injury (TBI) research community has
many of the foundational pieces needed for a knowledge network,
including common data elements, the Federal Interagency TBI Re-
search Informatics System (FITBIR), the Therapeutic Endpoints
Development (TED) project, and numerous clinical studies to collect
high quality data. The objective of the One Mind Portal is to connect
these existing resources, as well as to add missing components, to
enable a user-friendly and effective TBI research knowledge net-
work. A key component in supporting these collaborations is the
Portal’s digital marketplace. The marketplace is the gateway through
which research data — for all brain diseases and injuries — can be
accessed from around the globe to foster open-science approaches
and scale research in a dramatic way. In addition to allowing re-
searchers to publish their data as packages that can then be down-
loaded by the research community, the marketplace also features
integrated open analysis tools, such as tranSMART and RStudio, for
working with complex data. Through the use of open source tools
such as tranSMART, curated clinical and outcomes data, neuroi-
maging and molecular measures can be integrated to provide a
community-driven analytics platform for collaborative, translational
biomedical research. In conclusion, the first iteration of the One
Mind Portal aimed at connecting data, analytical tools, and inves-
tigators for the purpose of accelerating TBI research has been cre-
ated. Future iterations will include advances in technology and
resources, and most importantly, be based on user input about what
is needed for a productive, collaborative research workspace.
Keywords: bioinformatics, data science, analytics
D1-04
EXPLORING THE LINKS BETWEEN BLAST-INDUCED
TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES AND PSYCHOSOCIAL
DEFICITS IN RATS
Nick Race
1,2
, Elizabeth Lungwitz
2
, Sasha Alvarez
1
, Seung Hyun
Song
1
, Albert Kim
1
, Tony Zhang
1
, Babak Ziaie
1
, William Truitt
2
, Riyi
Shi
1
1
Purdue University, Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, West
Lafayette, IN, USA
2
Indiana University, School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
The aim of this investigation was to explore physical and biological
mechanisms linking blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) to de-
layed development of post-blast neuropsychiatric abnormalities. Rats
were exposed to mild bTBI and evaluated in numerous behavioral met-
rics including rotor rod (RR), open field (OF), novel object recognition
(NOR), social interaction (SI), and social recognition (SR) under normal
and anxiogenic conditions. Post-mortem brain tissue was assessed via
immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunoblotting for morphological
and biochemical changes in acrolein levels and neuroinflammation.
Daily post-injury urine samples were analyzed for changes in acrolein
levels. In addition, wireless deformation sensors were implanted to
measure brain deformation
in vivo
during blast exposure. Mild blast-
exposed rats experienced pronounced psychosocial safety learning def-
icits (consistently reduced SI time) from 7–12 days post-injury despite a
lack of other motor or cognitive deficits (RR, OF, NOR, and SR un-
changed). These deficits correlated with 24 hr post-injury elevations of a
toxic post-trauma neurotoxin, acrolein, which was elevated up to three
days in urine and five days in brain tissue. IHC revealed blood-brain-
barrier and microglial inflammatory activity in and around brain regions
suspected to mediate normal psychosocial safety learning, where sig-
nificant brain deformation was also measured
in vivo
at the time of injury.
Taken together, bTBI can physically disrupt and biochemically dysre-
gulate the brain in the acute term post injury. Left unabated, these dis-
ruptions can lead to neuropsychiatric abnormalities with significant
implications for reduced quality of life. Further study in rats may bring
critical insight to the analogous struggles of veteran societal reintegration
post-combat. Improved protective technology paired with methods for
early diagnostic and therapeutic intervention may provide effective
mitigation of long-term post-bTBI neuropsychiatric sequelae.
Keywords: TBI, behavior, acrolein, deformation
D2 Poster Session VII - Group D: Modeling
D2-01
MILD TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY IN MALE AND FEMALE
RATS: CHARACTERIZATION OF A NEW INJURY PARA-
DIGM
Peter Wirth
1,3
, Jennifer Liao
1,3
, Waylin Yu
2
, Paul Berkner
1,3
, Melissa
J. Glenn
2,3
1
Colby College, Department of Biology, Waterville, USA
2
Colby College, Department of Psychology, Waterville, USA
3
Colby College, Maine Concussion Management Initiative, Water-
ville, USA
Objective:
Mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) have significantly
increased in the last decade and there is mounting evidence of their
adverse cognitive and emotional effects. These effects and the un-
derlying pathophysiology are studied using rodent models, however,
in many, force is applied through projectiles or blasts to a stationary
animal. These may not adequately induce acceleration and rotation of
the animal’s head, as is common in human sports-related injuries.
Thus, to more accurately reproduce these important features of the
injury, we designed a new method for inducing mTBI in rats that
includes acceleration of the animal toward a stationary impact zone to
produce rapid rotational movement of the head. The present experi-
ment aimed to validate this novel injury model.
Method:
Male and female rats sustained mTBI or served as sham-
injured controls. Behavioral markers of recovery immediately after injury
and activity and memory in the week following injury were collected.
Results:
mTBI produced behavioral deficits in males and females.
In females, mTBI induced prolonged ataxia in the minutes following
injury, increased activity levels four days post-injury, but led to only
A-100