We studied the longitudinal changes in brain metabolism and impulsivity behavior in ferrets, a gyrencephalic animal model subjected to novel blast exposure conditions that closely mimic those encountered by Warfighters. Compared to rodents, the ferret model has greater similarities to human in terms of developmental process, brain structure and sophisticated behavior. Ferrets demonstrated increased behavioral impulsivity and higher glutamate and taurine in prefrontal cortex following blast exposure. Our findings are in agreement with clinical observations in patients, suggesting that this model is a good gyrencephalic animal model to study brain biochemical profile changes and neuropsychiatric alterations associated with blast exposure.
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