# Alcohol exposure exacerbates inflammation and anxiety-like behavior induced by repeated mild TBI during adolescence

> **NIH NIH F32** · LSU HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER · 2022 · $67,174

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
 TBI is the leading cause of death and disability in people under 40 in the United States, with mild TBI
(mTBI) being three times more common than moderate and severe injury combined. Currently, there are no
effective therapeutics that will preserve or restore brain tissue and function after TBI. As a result, individuals may
face a lifetime of deficits. Approximately one in five adolescents self-report having had one or more mild TBI
(mTBI) with adolescent athletes being at a higher risk than non-athletic peers. Additionally, adolescents
participating in team sports are more likely to take part in alcohol consumption. Both TBI and alcohol are known
to cause neuroinflammation, which can be especially damaging to the developing, adolescent brain, including a
higher incidence of anxiety reported following either of these insults independently. While mild TBI (mTBI) is the
most common, research has shown that the effects of repeated mTBI (rmTBI) over time can build to a level of
damage comparable to moderate or even severe injury. Additionally, studies have suggested that the
inflammatory effects of TBI during development can lead to an exaggerated inflammatory response to alcohol.
In this study, we propose to expose adolescent male and female rats to a series of four mTBIs interspersed with
episodes of alcohol exposure to test the hypothesis that while rmTBI and alcohol exposure during adolescence
both independently cause neuroinflammation, the combination of these insults will exacerbate this effect, and
that this will translate to increases in anxiety-like behavior. Finally, we will treat these animals with the anti-
inflammatory drug licofelone to investigate whether post-TBI neuroinflammation can be ameliorated, leading to
an improvement in these outcomes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10605755
- **Project number:** 1F32AA030496-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** LSU HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Sydney M Vita
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $67,174
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-12-01 → 2023-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10605755

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10605755, Alcohol exposure exacerbates inflammation and anxiety-like behavior induced by repeated mild TBI during adolescence (1F32AA030496-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10605755. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*