Article

Following traumatic brain injury (TBI), clinical cognitive training
paradigms harness implicit and explicit learning and memory systems to improve
function; however, these systems are differentially affected by TBI, highlighting
the need for an experimental TBI model that can test efficacy of cognitive
training approaches. OBJECTIVES: To develop a clinically relevant experimental
cognitive training model using the Morris water maze (MWM) wherein training on
implicitly learned task components was provided to improve behavioral performance
post-TBI. METHODS: Eighty-one adult male rats were divided by injury status
(controlled cortical impact [CCI]/Sham), non-spatial cognitive training
(CogTrained/No-CogTrained), and extra-maze cues (Cued/Non-Cued) during MWM
testing. Platform latencies, thigmotaxis, and search strategies were assessed
during MWM trials. RESULTS: Cognitive training was associated with improved
platform latencies, reduced thigmotaxis, and more effective search strategy use
for Sham and CCI rats. In the Cued and Non-Cued MWM paradigm, there were no
differences between CCI/CogTrained and Sham/No-CogTrained groups. During novel
testing conditions, CogTrained groups applied implicitly learned
knowledge/skills; however, sham-cued CogTrained/rats better incorporated
extramaze cues into their search strategy than the CCI-Cued group. Cognitive
training had no effects on contusion size or hippocampal cell survival.
CONCLUSIONS: The results provide evidence that CCI-CogTrained rats that learned
the nonspatial components of the MWM task applied these skills during multiple
conditions of the place-learning task, thereby mitigating cognitive deficits
typically associated with this injury model. The results show that a systematic
application of clinically relevant constructs associated with cognitive training
paradigms can be used with experimental TBI to affect place learning.
CI - (c) The Author(s) 2014.

Langue : ANGLAIS