Microscopic Neuronal Injury in Rats Submitted to Concussive Head Trauma Under Different Mechanisms.

Abstract

Summary

Rats recovering from a temporary period of unconsciousness, varying from 10 seconds to 15 minutes, following a blunt impact on the head which had left skull and brain apparently intact, frequently revealed microscopic evidence of neuronal injury affecting, in multiple areas, nerve cells, axis cylinders, and myelin sheaths, Using a trauma of the same strength, no differences were seen, either in the immediate effects or in the type and extent of cerebral changes, when the impact was delivered on the stationary head or on the head in rapidly accelerated motion.