Fig. 3.

Effects of targeted temperature management (TTM) on cerebrovascular histopathology and behavioral outcome post-traumatic brain injury (TBI). (a) TTM increases regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) 24 h after TBI. Representative original recording of ipsilateral rCBF for 10 min. Values are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 6/group). (b) Graph showing increased brain water content (determined by dry:wet ratio) in the traumatized hemisphere 24 h post-TBI, whereas TTM decreases the accumulation of water in the tissue (n = 3/group). (c) Blood–brain barrier integrity was measured by assessing the extravasation of Evans blue (EB) dye. The extravasation of EB dye in brain samples from cortical contusion impact (CCI) + 37°C or 32°C rats is shown. (d) Modified neurological severity (mNSS) score was assigned 1, 2, and 3 days post-TBI (n = 20/group). (e) The Morris water maze test was used to detect the spatial learning and memory for 7 consecutive days, starting on post-injury day (PID) 11 after TBI (n = 20/group). TTM significantly shortened escape latency during PID 12–17. (f) Representative path tracings in each quadrant during the probe trial on PID 18 (T = target quadrant; R = right quadrant; O = opposite quadrant; L = left quadrant). **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001 vs sham (37°C); ^# p < 0.05 and ^## p < 0.01 vs CCI (37°C). Error bars represent SD. NS indicates p > 0.05