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Defense Date
2003
DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/1B4F-0S42
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Dr. Robert Hamm
Abstract
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and its resulting pathophysiology have been extensively examined before. However, little is known in the area of pre-injury factors that influence vulnerability to and recovery from TBI. The current study examined the effects of pre-injury chronic nicotine exposure on Morris water maze performance, following TBI in adolescent rats. Fifteen days prior to lateral fluid percussion injury (FPI), adolescent rats (30 days old) were implanted with osmotic mini-pumps filled with nicotine (4.5mg/kg/day) or saline. Half the rats received lateral fluid percussion injury and half received sham injury. Animals were assessed for cognitive recovery in the Morris water maze on post-injury days (PID) 11 through 15. The MWM results indicated no significant differences between injured animals infused with chronic nicotine and injured animals infused with saline.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
June 2008
VCU Only:
Off Campus Download
Comments
Part of Retrospective ETD Collection, restricted to VCU only.