Survival Rates and Biomarkers in a Large Animal Model of Traumatic Brain Injury Combined With Two Different Levels of Blood Loss

INTRODUCTION:The pathology resulting from concurrent traumatic brain injury (TBI) and hemorrhagic shock (HS; TBI+HS) are leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide following trauma. However, the majority of large animal models of TBI+HS have utilized focal/contusional injuries rather than incorporating the types of brain trauma (closed-head injury caused by dynamic acceleration) that typify human injury. OBJECTIVE:To examine survival rates and effects on biomarkers from rotational TBI with two levels of HS. METHODS:Twenty-two sexually mature Yucatan swine (30.39 ± 2.25 kg; 11 females) therefore underwent either Sham trauma procedures (N = 6) or a dynamic acceleration TBI combined with either 55% (N = 8) or 40% (N = 8) blood loss in this serial study. RESULTS:Survival rates were significantly higher for the TBI+40% (87.5%) relative to TBI+55% (12.5%) cohort, with the majority of TBI+55% animals expiring within two hours post-trauma from apnea. Blood-based neural biomarkers and immunohistochemistry indicated evidence of diffuse axonal injury (increased NFL/Aβ42), blood-brain barrier breach (increased IgG) and inflammation (increased GFAP/IBA1) in the injured cohorts relative to Shams. Invasive hemodynamic measurements indicated increased shock index and decreased pulse pressure in both injury cohorts, with evidence of partial recovery for invasive hemodynamic measurements in the TBI+40% cohort. Similarly, although both injury groups demonstrated ionic and blood gas abnormalities immediately post-injury, metabolic acidosis continued to increase in the TBI+55% group ∼85 minutes post-injury. Somewhat surprisingly, both neural and physiological biomarkers showed significant changes within the Sham cohort across the multi-hour experimental procedure, most likely associated with prolonged anesthesia. CONCLUSION:Current results suggest the TBI+55% model may be more appropriate for severe trauma requiring immediate medical attention/standard fluid resuscitation protocols whereas the TBI+40% model may be useful for studies of prolonged field care.