ABSTRACT
The use of in vivo (i.e., animal) models to study traumatic brain injury (TBI) is far from new; indeed since the late 1800s many models of brain injury have been employed for this purpose (Gennarelli et al., 1982; Govons et al., 1972; Nilsson, Pontén, and Voigt, 1977; Ommaya, Geller, and Parsons, 1971; Ommaya and Gennarelli, 1974; Rinder and Olsson, 1968; Sullivan et al., 1976; Denny-Brown and Russell, 1941; Kramer, 1896; Cannon, 1901; Parkinson, West, and Pathiraja, 1978). In the 1980s, Lighthall and his colleagues developed a pneumatic impactor for the purpose of modeling TBI in ferrets (Lighthall, 1988; Lighthall, Goshgarian, and Pinderski, 1990); this method is now referred to as controlled cortical impact (CCI). The control and reproducibility of CCI led Dixon and colleagues to adapt the model for use in rats (Dixon et al., 1991). Since its development, CCI has become one of the most common models of brain injury in animals and has been applied to numerous species. This chapter will familiarize the reader with the key aspects of CCI (e.g., species applied to; types of devices) the clinical features of brain injury replicated by this model, and considerations for researchers using CCI. It will also provide a standard protocol for pneumatic CCI in rats.
