Fig. 1

Effect of atorvastatin treatment on neurological outcomes after TBI. a A timeline of the experimental design. i.g.: intragastric gavage. b, c Representative images of the cortical contusion region induced by a CCI system. Shaded areas illustrate the peri-contusional cortex that was harvested for ELISA and qRT-PCR analysis (b) and the microphotographed areas used in immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence (c). d, e The neurological recovery was analyzed by mNSS (d) and Rota-rod(e) tests prior to and at 24 and 72 h post-TBI. d mNSS scores were significantly higher in the four TBI groups compared with those in the sham groups. No significant differences were observed among the four TBI groups at 24 h. However, the three different doses of atorvastatin groups showed significantly lower mNSS scores compared with those in the saline group at 72 h post-TBI. No significant differences were detected among the 1, 5, and 10 mg/kg/day atorvastatin groups at any time point. e Compared with the mice in the TBI + saline group, atorvastatin (1, 5, and 10 mg/kg/day) administration attenuated the TBI-induced impaired Rota-rod performance at 24 and 72 h after TBI. However, differences in Rota-rod latency among the three atorvastatin groups were not significant on any testing day. Data are presented as the mean ± SD. ***p < 0.001 versus sham group, ^# p < 0.05 and ^## p < 0.01 versus TBI + saline group. n = 24/group (mNSS) or 12/group (Rota-rod)