Fig. 1

Weight drop induced mild traumatic brain injury and caused cortical function impairment in mice. A An illustration of the weight-drop-induced motor and sensory cortex injury site. B The protein levels of CCL5 in the cortex after 1-, 4-, and 7 days of injury (dpi) were detected by ELISA assay (sham vs. 1 dpi, p = 0.0420; sham vs. 4 dpi, p = 0.0177; sham vs. 7dpi, p = 0.0281. Data were presented as mean ± SEM and analyzed by t-test following Mann-Whitney test). C The mNSS score of both WT and CCL5-KO mice showed mild brain injury. (WT sham vs. TBI, p = 0.0038; KO sham vs. TBI, p < 0.0001; WT-TBI vs. KO-TBI, p < 0.0001). The motor function of 4 groups of mice included falling time from the accelerating Rotarod (WT sham vs. TBI, p < 0.0001; KO sham vs. TBI, p < 0.0001; WT-TBI vs. KO-TBI, p = 0.0002) (D) and foot faults with beam walking (WT sham vs. TBI, p = 0.0011; KO sham vs. TBI, p = 0.0019; WT-TBI vs. KO-TBI, p < 0.0001) (E). Sensory function was analyzed by limb sticker removal (WT sham vs. TBI, p = 0.0003; KO sham vs. TBI, p = 0.0173; WT-TBI vs. KO-TBI, p = 0.0399) (F). Data was analyzed from both paws. (n = 7–9 animals in C–F) Data in C–F were analyzed by two-way ANOVA and presented as mean ± SEM. The time of induced brain injury (mild traumatic brain injury, mTBI)