Performing Laser-Induced Brain Injury in a Rat Model

Take an anesthetized rat placed on a rectal temperature-regulated heating pad to maintain its body temperature.

Remove the fur and disinfect the surgical site.

Next, secure the rat in a prone position on a stereotaxic unit.

Make a midline surgical incision. Then, expose the area between the skull reference points.

Position the laser appropriately above the right hemisphere to target the motor cortex.

Administer longer wavelength, high-energy light pulses to the exposed area of the skull, penetrating deeply into the motor cortex.

The tissue absorbs these pulses, causing localized heating and cellular damage, inducing brain injury.

After laser exposure, remove the rat from the stereotaxic unit.

Suture the surgical incision and return the rat to its cage.

Allow it to recover. The laser-induced brain injury rat model can be used for neurological analysis.

To perform a laser-induced brain injury, first, assign twenty 300- to 350-gram Sprague Dawley rats into the laser group. After confirming a lack of response to withdrawal reflex, place one rat on a rectal temperature-regulated heating pad, and use a shaver to remove enough hair from the injury site, with an approximately two-centimeter hair-free margin around the incision. Disinfect the exposed skin with 70% ethanol, and place the rat in the prone position in a stereotaxic head holder.

Make a three-centimeter incision to allow lateral reflection of the scalp to expose the area between bregma and lambda. Holding an Nd:YAG laser with peak wavelength of 1,064 nanometers at a two-millimeter distance from the skull, administer 50 joules times 10 points, with a one-second pulse duration, to the exposed area of the skull above the right hemisphere. After the laser injury has been delivered, remove the rat from the device, and close the scalp with 3-0 silk surgical sutures. Then, place the rat in its cage with monitoring until full recumbency.