Widespread early dendritic injury associated with loss of cortical MAP-2 immunostaining in a focal ovine head impact model

• Published in: Journal of clinical neuroscience Vol. 6; no. 6; pp. 500 - 505
• Main Authors: Manavis, Jim, Lee, Po-Ling, Blumbergs, Peter C, Lewis, Steve B, Finnie, John W, Reilly, Peter L, Jones, Nigel R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Ltd 01-11-1999; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Dendrites; head injury; immunohistochemistry; Injuries of the nervous system and the skull. Diseases due to physical agents; Medical sciences; microtubule-associated proteins; sheep model; Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents; Dendrites; immunohistochemistry; sheep model; head injury; microtubule-associated proteins; Immunohistochemistry; Animal model; Nervous system diseases; Cerebral cortex; Pathophysiology; Craniocerebral; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Trauma; Cerebral disorder; Dendrite; Pathology; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Animal; Microtubule associated protein 2; Central nervous system disease; Skull disease; Sheep; Artiodactyla; Ungulata
• ISSN: 0967-5868; 1532-2653
• DOI: 10.1016/S0967-5868(99)90010-3

Dendritic pathology associated with traumatic brain injury may be identified by microtubule associated protein-2 (MAP-2) immunohistochemistry. The aim of this study was to examine the dendritic response in the cerebral cortical mantle in an ovine head impact model using MAP-2 immunostaining as a marker for dendritic injury. The loss of cortical MAP-2 immunoreactivity at 2 h was recorded and quantitated using a computerised image analysis system applied to standard coronal brain sections obtained from 10 impacted and 3 control sheep. Coup and contrecoup cortical contusions were present in 9 of 10 impacted brains examined 2 h after injury. MAP-2 immunoreactivity was lost in all areas of cortical contusion irrespective of site and in otherwise histologically normal cortex. MAP-2 immunostaining was lost in over 45% of the whole cortical area (range 32–54%) and only 2% (range 0–5.5%) was associated with contusions. This study has shown that there is widespread loss of MAP-2 immunostaining following head impact in the cerebral cortical mantle (up to 54%) suggestive of early dendritic injury.