A strike to the head: Parallels between the pediatric and adult human and the rodent in traumatic brain injury

• Published in: Journal of neuroscience research 2024-07, Vol.102 (7), p.e25364-n/a
• Main Authors: Smith, Allie M., Grayson, Bernadette E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; Age composition; Animal models; Animals; Brain; Brain - pathology; Brain Injuries, Traumatic - pathology; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; concussion; Corpus callosum; Disease Models, Animal; Emotional behavior; Global health; Head injuries; Humans; Hypothalamus; Neurodevelopment; pediatric; Pediatrics; Prefrontal cortex; Public health; Quality of life; Rodentia; Rodents; Traumatic brain injury
• ISSN: 0360-4012; 1097-4547; 1097-4547
• DOI: 10.1002/jnr.25364

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a condition that occurs commonly in children from infancy through adolescence and is a global health concern. Pediatric TBI presents with a bimodal age distribution, with very young children (0–4 years) and adolescents (15–19 years) more commonly injured. Because children's brains are still developing, there is increased vulnerability to the effects of head trauma, which results in entirely different patterns of injury than in adults. Pediatric TBI has a profound and lasting impact on a child's development and quality of life, resulting in long‐lasting consequences to physical, cognitive, and emotional development. Chronic issues like learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and emotional disturbances can develop. Early intervention and ongoing support are critical for minimizing these long‐term deficits. Many animal models of TBI exist, and each varies significantly, displaying different characteristics of clinical TBI. The neurodevelopment differs in the rodent from the human in timing and effect, so TBI outcomes in the juvenile rodent can thus vary from the human child. The current review compares findings from preclinical TBI work in juvenile and adult rodents to clinical TBI research in pediatric and adult humans. We focus on the four brain regions most affected by TBI: the prefrontal cortex, corpus callosum, hippocampus, and hypothalamus. Each has its unique developmental projections and thus is impacted by TBI differently. This review aims to compare the healthy neurodevelopment of these four brain regions in humans to the developmental processes in rodents.