Neurobehavioral Assessments of Traumatic Brain Injury

Assessment of neurologic deficit following traumatic brain injury (TBI) is integral to effective evaluation of injury severity, course, and recovery. Paradigms that involve training regimens can be difficult to employ and may not be feasible for short survival time points or simple monitoring of injury level. Acute reflex suppression testing and chronic composite neurobehavioral scoring rely upon innate animal responses that allow for quick, reproducible, and quantifiable measurements of injury severity and recovery. The utilization of these examinations grants researchers the ability to monitor the effect of injury upon behavior and assign injury severity without the necessity of ongoing histological characterization. Daily examinations of simple neurological deficits are also useful in monitoring animal status postinjury.