Fig. 1

Xenon treatment reduces secondary injury development. Controlled cortical impact results in a primary injury that develops significantly 24 h later. a Typical cresyl violet stained slices for i TBI primary injury at 15 min, ii TBI control at 24 h and iii TBI xenon at 24 h. b(i) In animals treated with control gas, the injury develops significantly between 15 min (grey bar) and 24 h (dark blue hatched bar). The area above the dashed-line represents the secondary injury. ii Treatment with xenon (50%) (red bar) resulted in a 34% reduction in secondary injury compared to untreated control (dark blue bar). Secondary injury was calculated by subtracting the primary injury at 15 min from the total contusion volume at 24 h. c Controlled cortical impact results in locomotor impairment at 24 h after injury that is prevented by xenon treatment. There was a significant reduction in locomotor speed in the TBI control group at 24 h, while this reduction was absent in the TBI xenon group. d Cadence was significantly reduced in both the TBI control group and the TBI xenon group at 24 h following injury. e Stride length is reduced following TBI in the TBI control group but not in the TBI xenon group. LF left front paw; LH left hind paw; RF right front paw; RH right hind paw. Bars are mean values, error bars are SEM. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001 compared to sham group, Mann Whitney U test (contusion), one-way (locomotor speed, cadence) or two way (stride length) ANOVA with Sidak correction. n = 4, primary injury 15 min (grey bar); n = 6 sham (black bars) 24 h, n = 6, TBI control 24 h (blue bars); n = 6 TBI xenon 24 h (red bars)