FIG. 2.

Pre-treatment with BCAAs improved spatial learning after TBI better than post-treatment alone. (A) Animals provided BCAAs before the injury (Pre and Pre + Post) had better task learning in the Morris water maze than untreated animals and animals given BCAAs after the injury alone (Post). (B) Effects of BCAA treatment on swimming speed. Sham, TBI, and Pre + Post animals were equivalent. Pre-treated animals were faster than shams and TBI animals, but no other groups. Post-treated animals were slower than sham, TBI, and Pre + Post animals, and Pre- + Post-treated animals were only faster than Post-treated animals. Error bars represent the SEM. N = 7–8 per group. Data sets that do not share common letter designations differed significantly in Tukey's post hoc test. BCAA, branched-chain amino acid; SEM, standard error of the mean; TBI, traumatic brain injury.