The Effects of Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids on Repetitive Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Outcomes
Date
2019-08-16
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Abstract
Given the considerable prevalence of AAS abuse and RmTBI incidence in adolescents and their overlapping symptomology, the goal of this research was to characterize any cumulative behavioural and neuropathological outcomes of AAS on the concussed brain in adolescent Sprague Dawley rats. Although there were minimal effects of AAS on RmTBI outcomes, we identified cumulative effects of RmTBI and abrupt AAS and exercise cessation on measures of anxiety, working memory, in addition to altered gene expression in the neural circuitry involved in the innate stress response. Additionally, we identified alarming effects of AAS on the developing brain; prefrontal cortex atrophy, amygdala hypertrophy, and damaged white matter in the corpus callosum were identified which were associated with changes in gene expression and subsequent behavioural impairments. The findings from this investigation provide valuable insight into the effects of AAS exposure on the developing brain in the context of RmTBI.
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Keywords
Adolescent, Concussion, Anabolic-androgenic Steroids, Development, Advanced MRI, Diffusion, mRNA
Citation
Tabor, J. B. (2019). The Effects of Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids on Repetitive Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Outcomes (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.