Traumatic Brain Injury – Modeling Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Rodents

Each year in the US, ∼1.5 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Victims of TBI can suffer from chronic post-TBI symptoms, such as sensory and motor deficits, cognitive impairments including problems with memory, learning, and attention, and neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression, anxiety, irritability, aggression, and suicidal rumination. Although partially associated with the site and severity of injury, the biological mechanisms associated with many of these symptoms – and why some patients experience differing assortments of persistent maladies – are largely unknown. The use of animal models is a promising strategy for elucidation of the mechanisms of impairment and treatment, and learning, memory, sensory, and motor tests have widespread utility in rodent models of TBI and psychopharmacology. Comparatively, behavioral tests for the evaluation of neuropsychiatric symptomatology are rarely employed in animal models of TBI and, as determined in this review, the results have been inconsistent. Animal behavioral studies contribute to the understanding of the biological mechanisms by which TBI is associated with neurobehavioral symptoms and offer a powerful means for pre-clinical treatment validation. Therefore, further exploration of the utility of animal behavioral tests for the study of injury mechanisms and therapeutic strategies for the alleviation of emotional symptoms are relevant and essential.