Attenuation of Working Memory and Spatial Acquisition Deficits after a Delayed and Chronic Bromocriptine Treatment Regimen in Rats Subjected to Traumatic Brain Injury by Controlled Cortical Impact

Cognitive impairments are pervasive and persistent sequelae of human traumatic brain injury (TBI). In vivo models of TBI, such as the controlled cortical impact (CCI) and fluid percussion (FP), are utilized extensively to produce deficits reminiscent of those seen clinically with the hope that empirical study will lead to viable therapeutic interventions. Both CCI and FP produce spatial learning acquisition deficits, but only the latter has been reported to impair working memory in rats tested in the Morris water maze (MWM). We hypothesized that a CCI injury would impair working memory similarly to that produced by FP, and that delayed and chronic treatment with the D2 receptor agonist bromocriptine would attenuate both working memory and spatial learning acquisition deficits. To test these hypotheses, isoflurane-anesthetized adult male rats received either a CCI (2.7 mm deformation, 4 m/sec) or sham injury, and 24 h later were administered bromocriptine (5 mg/kg, i.p.) or vehicle, with continued daily injections until all behavioral assessments were completed. Motor function was assessed on beam balance and beam walking tasks on postoperative days 1-5 and cognitive function was evaluated in the MWM on days 11-15 for working memory(experiment 1) and on days 14-18 for spatial learning acquisition (experiment 2). Histological examination (hippocampal CA₁ and CA₃ cell loss/survival and cortical lesion volume) was conducted 4 weeks after surgery. All injured groups exhibited initial impairments in motor function, working memory, and spatial learning acquisition. Bromocriptine did not affect motor function, but did ameliorate working memory and significantly attenuated spatial acquisition deficits relative to the injured vehicle-treated controls. Additionally, the injured bromocriptine-treated group exhibited significantly more morphologically intact CA₃ neurons than the injured vehicle-treated group (55.60 ± 3.10% vs. 38.34 ± 7.78% [p = 0.03]). No significant differences were observed among TBI groups in CA₁ cell survival (bromocriptine, 40.26 ± 4.74% vs. vehicle, 29.13 ± 6.63% [p = 0.14]) or cortical lesion volume (bromocriptine, 17.78 ± 0.62 mm³ vs. vehicle, 19.01 ± 1.49 mm³ [p > 0.05]). These data reveal that CCI produces working memory deficits in rats that are similar to those observed following FP, and that the delayed and chronic bromocriptine treatment regimen conferred cognitive and neural protection after TBI.