Instrument and model for rotational traumatic brain injury

Abstract

A model and testing device for creating repetitive, rotational head trauma in rodents is disclosed herein. The testing device induces angular rotational acceleration and deceleration forces that result in injury or insult to the integrity of the intracranial tissues of the brain for the test animal and can be used to characterize, test the effects of, and/or investigate a therapeutic agent for rotational traumatic brain injury. In some embodiments, the testing device contains an animal restraint that is configured to secure the animal therein, while allowing the animal's head to rotate about the coronal plane during and following impact. The testing device can include an animal restraint, a restraint mount, configured to receive the animal restraint, a helmet assembly attached to the subject restraint mount, such that the helmet assembly is in pivotal rotation about a central axis of rotation, a pendulum arm, and an impact fixture.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.