# Sharp wave ripple stimulation as a potential strategy to enhance memory after TBI

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON · 2024 · $195,000

## Abstract

Abstract
One of the key complaints of persons who sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) is persistent memory dysfunction.
While a large body of evidence indicates that preventing neuronal loss in the acute stage of TBI can improve
outcome, strategies aimed at improving the function of the surviving neurons are scarce. The hippocampus,
which is essential for learning and memory, is a key region of the brain whose function is often compromised in
experimental models of TBI as well as in human patients. The ensuing learning and memory impairments can
interfere with every day activities and compromise quality of life. These deficits, which can occur in the absence
of neuronal loss, are likely due to perturbations of hippocampal function. As an animal learns new information,
hippocampal neurons fire and change their properties (e.g. undergo plasticity) in order to store the new
information. In periods of awake restfulness and sleep, the hippocampus spontaneously and rapidly “replays”
the learned information in a pattern called a sharp wave-ripple (SPW-R). It is thought that SPW-Rs play a critical
role in reinforcing the learning experience, with disruption of SPW-Rs being demonstrated to cause hippocampal-
dependent memory impairments. Although TBI is known to cause learning and memory impairments, it is not
known if these deficits result, in part, from reduced SPW-Rs, or if memory can be restored by augmenting ripples.
In order to bridge this knowledge gap, we propose to record SPW-R activity in behaving animals using probes
implanted into the dorsal hippocampus of sham and TBI rats. We will then test if optogenetic or pharmacological
stimulation of hippocampal ripples can be used to improve the memory of TBI animals. The research proposed
in this R21 application aims to obtain maximum payoff, and thus has risk that goes along with it.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10871017
- **Project number:** 1R21NS137216-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON
- **Principal Investigator:** PRAMOD K DASH
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $195,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-06-15 → 2026-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10871017

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10871017, Sharp wave ripple stimulation as a potential strategy to enhance memory after TBI (1R21NS137216-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10871017. Licensed CC0.

---

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