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Between 1976 and 1985, investigators at the University of Pennsylvania used non-human primate models to replicate specific forms of brain injury, with a focus on concussion, Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI) and Acute Subdural Hematoma (ASDH). University of Pennsylvania scientists developed injury devices to control the rapid head motion, and loading conditions and physiological, clinical and psychological data were obtained in animal studies. These studies included a broad range of loading directions and acceleration amplitudes, as well as repeated and single loads. Squirrel, Rhesus, and Cyanomologus monkeys and baboons were followed from hours to weeks after injury. Today, those data (from approximately 150 experimental animal studies) provide a valuable if not irreplaceable resource that has the potential of being used to relate loading parameters with regional and temporal patterns of primary and secondary neuropathology. However, the body of existing data in biomechanics, clinical outcome, physiology, and neuropathology has not been integrated into a single, common database. Therefore, the subset of studies that have all of these data components is not known. Although smaller groups of animals with similar pathology are now part of the scientific literature, there is emerging interest in considering the data set as a whole. This interest is stimulated by the potential use of the biomechanical information from these studies to examine new brain injury thresholds, and to use new immunohistochemistry markers on the existing tissue to identify molecular pathways of injury. In short, the goal is to extend the analysis of the historic data using 21st century computational and molecular tools.
This two-year research plan will assemble loading data, physiological and clinical data, tissue data (slides, blocks), and reports from 3 institutions to create a digital database containing all available information. Thus, the objective of this research effort is to develop a high quality dataset of the integrated information from these animal experiments for use in validating injury predictions derived from the SIMon project. Moreover, it is posited that this high quality dataset represents the most complete set of data assembled for use in a model of prolonged traumatic coma, albeit no longer in use. The eventual dataset will result from an intensive examination and vetting of data from all three phases of previous experiments: the biomechanics, the neuropathology, and the clinical outcome variables. When completed from the larger set of animal experiments, this subset of data will be suitable for use as a template for assembling a Data Archive for the international research community and to allow broad access to this information. |
