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Background and Purpose: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) comprises a primary injury directly induced by impact, which progresses into a secondary injury leading to neuroinflammation, reactive astrogliosis, and cognitive and motor damage. To date, treatment of TBI consists solely of palliative therapies that do not prevent and/or limit the outcomes of secondary damage and only stabilize the deficits. The neurotrophin, nerve growth factor (NGF), delivered to the brain parenchyma following intranasal application, could be a useful means of limiting or improving the outcomes of the secondary injury, as suggested by pre‐clinical and clinical data. Experimental Approach: We evaluated the effect of acute intranasal treatment of young (20‐postnatal day) rats, with NGF in a TBI model (weight drop/close head), aggravated by hypoxic complications. Immediately after the trauma, rats were intranasally treated with human recombinant NGF (50 μg·kg−1), and motor behavioural test, morphometric and biochemical assays were carried out 24 h later. Key Results: Acute intranasal NGF prevented the onset of TBI‐induced motor disabilities, and decreased reactive astrogliosis, microglial activation and IL‐1β content, which after TBI develops to the same extent in the impact zone and the hypothalamus. Conclusion and Implications: Intranasal application of NGF was effective in decreasing the motor dysfunction and neuroinflammation in the brain of young rats in our model of TBI. This work forms an initial pre‐clinical evaluation of the potential of early intranasal NGF treatment in preventing and limiting the disabling outcomes of TBI, a clinical condition that remains one of the unsolved problems of paediatric neurology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Nerve growth factor (NGF) promotes neural recovery after experimental traumatic brain injury (TBI) supporting neuronal growth, differentiation and survival of brain cells and up-regulating the neurogenesis-associated protein Doublecortin (DCX). Only a few studies reported NGF administration in paediatric patients with severe TBI. Methods:A four-year-old boy in a persistent unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) was treated with intranasal murine NGF administration 6 months after severe TBI. The patient received four cycles of intranasal NGF (0.1 mg/kg, twice a day for 10 consecutive days). Results:NGF administration improved functional [Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT); Single photon emission/Computed Tomography (SPECT/CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)] assessment, electrophysiological [Electroencephalogram (EEG) and Visual Evoked Potential (VEP)] studies and clinical conditions. He showed improvements in voluntary movements, facial mimicry, phonation, attention and verbal comprehension, ability to cry, cough reflex, oral motility, feeding capacity, and bowel and urinary functions. After NGF administration, raised levels of both NGF and DCX were found in the cerebrospinal fluid of the patient. No side effects were reported. Conclusions:Although further studies are needed for better understanding the neuroprotective role of this neurotrophin, intranasal NGF administration appears to be a promising and safe rescuing strategy treatment in children with neurological impairment after TBI. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]