# Altered forebrain circuits following traumatic brain injury

> **NIH NIH R03** · LOUISIANA STATE UNIV A&M COL BATON ROUGE · 2020 · $83,994

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) results in a progressive degeneration of neural circuits in the brain. The long-term
goals of our research are to understand how the neural circuit alterations that accompany TBI result in the
concomitant decline in cognitive and mental abilities. The primary objective of this proposal is to characterize
alterations to the layer 5 corticothalamic versus layer 2/3 corticocortical projections in a mouse model of TBI.
The layer 5 corticothalamic pathway supports an important, yet largely neglected, route for information flow in
the forebrain that is critical for normal cognitive processes. The central hypothesis is that the layer 5
corticothalamic pathway is altered later than the layer 2/3 corticocortical pathways during the progression of
chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) following TBI. This is expected to result in changes to functional
connectivity in the forebrain and underlie the progression of cognitive deficits following TBI. Several
neuroanatomical and neurophysiological features of these pathways have been identified, which forms the
basis for the proposed investigation. The specific aims of this project are to characterize the alterations to the
layer 5 corticothalamic versus layer 2/3 corticocortical pathways in a mouse model of TBI by examining: 1)
changes to the neuroanatomical connections of the layer 5 and layer 2/3 neurons and 2) alterations to
neurophysiological responses in higher-order thalamic nuclei and cortical areas mediated by activation of
pathways from these layers. The proposed experiments are expected to identify the changes to forebrain
functional connectivity mediated by these different pathways and guide our future investigations aimed at
directly linking alterations to these pathways with the cognitive deficits experienced following TBI and ultimately
restoring normal behavior in this model system. These experiments will have a positive impact by illuminating
the potentially important role of the layer 5 corticothalamic pathways in the condition, which will lead to
enhanced diagnostics and prospective treatments for this and related neurodegenerative conditions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9930687
- **Project number:** 5R03NS109682-02
- **Recipient organization:** LOUISIANA STATE UNIV A&M COL BATON ROUGE
- **Principal Investigator:** CHARLES C LEE
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $83,994
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-06-01 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9930687

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9930687, Altered forebrain circuits following traumatic brain injury (5R03NS109682-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9930687. Licensed CC0.

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