The history and evolution of experimental traumatic brain injury models

Abstract

This narrative provides a brief history of experimental animal model development for the study of traumatic brain injury. It draws upon a relatively rich history of early animal modeling that employed higher order animals to assess concussive brain injury while exploring the importance of head movement versus stabilization in evaluating the animal’s response to injury. These themes are extended to the development of angular/rotational acceleration/deceleration models that also exploited brain movement to generate both the morbidity and pathology typically associated with human traumatic brain injury. Despite the signifi- cance of these early model systems, their limitations and overall practicality are discussed. Consideration is given to more contemporary rodent animal models that replicate individual/specific features of human injury, while via various transgenic technologies permitting the evaluation of injury- mediated pathways. The narrative closes on a reconsideration of higher order, porcine animal models of injury and their implication for preclinical/translational research.