Pattern of cerebrospinal immediate early gene c-fos expression in an ovine model of non-accidental head injury

Expression of the immediate early gene, c-fos, was examined in a large animal model of non-accidental head injury (“shaken baby syndrome”). Lambs were used because they have a relatively large gyrencephalic brain and weak neck muscles resembling a human infant. Neonatal lambs were manually shaken in a manner similar to that believed to occur with most abused human infants, but there was no head impact. The most striking c-fos expression was in meningothelial cells of the cranial cervical spinal cord and, to a lesser degree, in hemispheric, cerebellar, and brainstem meninges. Vascular endothelial cells also frequently showed c-fos immunopositivity in the meninges and hemispheric white matter. It was hypothesised that this c-fos immunoreactivity was due to mechanical stress induced by shaking, with differential movement of different craniospinal components.