ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC CHANGES FOLLOWING HEAD INJURIES IN DOGS

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Abstract
107 concussion expts. were done on 2 cats and 17 dogs under local and general anesthesia. A pendulum was used to strike the freely moving head. Some animals were trained with a conditioned reflex technique called correct conditioned differentiation and their post-concussion behavior was correlated with electroencephalographic changes. The dog seems less susceptible to the effects of blows delivered to the freely moving head than is the cat. Impacts of equal intensity cause more marked effects on the animal under general anesthesia than in the animal with only local anesthesia. Of all the elements of the electroencephalogram in the nembutal anesthetized animal, the ones which seemed most susceptible to the effects of trauma were the spindles of relative high voltage activity characteristic of the record of animals anesthetized with the barbituric acid derivatives. Evidence is presented which indicates that concussion has a direct paralyzing effect temporary in character, independent and beyond any mechanical stimulation of neurones. Head injuries affect correct conditioned differentiation responses more easily and for a much longer time than they affect reflex activity and more vital functions. Correct conditioned differentiation appears to be a more delicate index of cerebral cortical function than is the electroencephalogram as is usually obtained at the present time.

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