Inducing Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in the Rodent through Coronal Plane Angular Acceleration.

This investigation used a new experimental model to apply pure coronal plane angular acceleration to a rodent, inducing concussion (mild traumatic brain injury). A mass was propelled down a drop tube toward the laterally extended moment arm of a rodent helmet fixture. Upon impact, the rodent helmet-head complex experienced mean angular acceleration of 368 krad/s2 (standard deviation = 30). All 26 specimens demonstrated a period of transient unconsciousness, mild ventriculomegaly, and absence of severe pathology.Injuries were classified as concussion based on scaled biomechanics, transient unconsciousness, macroscopic damage and minimal histological abnormalities. For the covering abstract see ITRD E141569.