Date of Award
2019
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Neuroscience
Abstract
Repeat mild traumatic brain injury (rmTBI) is a major public health concern leading to both chronic hypogonadism and vestibular impairment. Following rmTBI, vestibular symptoms are one of the most common complaints and hypogonadism occurs in a majority of patients. Gonadal hormones have a well-established role in neuroplasticity and axonal regeneration. The loss of gonadal hormones due to rmTBI may delay recovery. A clinically relevant closed-headed rmTBI male rodent model was utilized to examine the role of testosterone replacement therapy on chronic vestibular dysfunction. This is the first study to demonstrate both hypogonadism and vestibular dysfunction in the acute and chronic phases of a closed-headed rmTBI model. Vestibular function was improved 28-days after testosterone treatment and was sustained up to 175-days. These data strongly support a link between hypogonadism and vestibular impairment. Testosterone is a viable treatment following chronic vestibular dysfunction after rmTBIs. The lack of testosterone after injury can exacerbate impairment by delaying attenuation of brain injury processes.
Recommended Citation
Segismundo, Arthur, "Testosterone Replacement Therapy for the Recovery from Chronic Vestibular Dysfunction Following Repeat Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Male Long-Evans Hooded Rats" (2019). Master's Theses. 4009.
https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/4009
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2019 Arthur Segismundo
