Decompressive craniectomy protects against hippocampal edema and behavioral deficits at an early stage of a moderately controlled cortical impact brain injury model in adult male rats

A decompressive craniectomy (DC) has been shown to be a life-saving therapeutic treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients, which also might result in post-operative behavioral dysfunction. However, there is still no definite conclusion about whether the behavioral dysfunction already existed at an early stage after the DC operation or is just a long-term post-operation complication. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to analyze whether DC treatment was beneficial to behavioral function at an early stage post TBI. In this study, we established a controlled cortical impact injury rat model to evaluate the therapeutic effect of DC treatment on behavioral deficits at 1 d, 2 d, 3 d and 7 d after TBI. Our results showed that rats suffered significant behavioral and mood deficits after TBI compared to the control group, while decompressive craniectomy treatment could normalize MMP-9 expression levels and reduce hippocampal edema formation, stabilize the expression of Synapsin I, which was a potential indicator of maintaining the hippocampal synaptic function, thus counteracting behavioral but not mood decay in rats subjected to TBI. In conclusion, decompressive craniectomy, excepting for its life-saving effect, could also play a potential beneficial neuroprotective role on behavioral but not mood deficits at an early stage of moderate traumatic brain injury in rats.