{
  "abstract": "Many widely used open-head models of traumatic brain injury (TBI) require craniotomy before injury, while sham-operated animals undergo surgery without impact and serve as controls. However, sham surgery itself may alter physiological, molecular, and behavioral parameters, complicating interpretation of TBI-specific effects. This narrative review, based on a structured PubMed search, synthesizes studies employing a three-group design to distinguish injury-related changes from those associated with craniotomy and other perioperative procedures. Evidence indicates that sham surgery produces outcome-, region-, and time-dependent effects that are generally milder, more localized, and more transient than TBI. These include neuroinflammatory responses, localized neuronal alterations, temporary sensorimotor and cognitive deficits, nociceptive changes, and shifts in gut microbiota. In contrast, TBI causes more severe abnormalities, including extensive neuronal damage, sustained astrogliosis, microglial activation, neutrophilic infiltration, mitochondrial dysfunction, and long-term dysbiosis. Most electrophysiological parameters are relatively unaffected by sham surgery, although selected changes have been reported. Importantly, differences between naïve and sham animals cannot be attributed exclusively to craniotomy, as anesthesia, analgesia, and surgical technique may contribute. Thus, sham surgery should not be considered a biologically neutral control. Inclusion of both naïve and sham groups is particularly important when distinguishing surgery-associated from injury-specific effects in preclinical studies.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Genetics, Cytology, and Bioengineering, Voronezh State University, Voronezh 394018, Russia",
    "Brain Science Institute, Russian Center of Neurology and Neurosciences, Moscow 125367, Russia",
    "Kulakov National Medical Research Center of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology, 4 Akademika Oparina Str., Moscow 117997, Russia",
    "Department of Functional Biochemistry of Biopolymers, A.N. Belozersky Research Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Moscow State University, Moscow 119992, Russia"
  ],
  "article_type": "review article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Viktoria Gribovskaya",
      "orcid": "0009-0006-5406-4255"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Dianna Adzhemian",
      "orcid": "0009-0004-7968-3410"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Pavel Rogozin",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5735-6898"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Veronika Nesterova",
      "orcid": "0009-0000-1069-9108"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Artem Gureev",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3562-5329"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Denis Silachev",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0581-9755"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3z9eh88kwk21k.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/ijms27209186",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13705088/?tool=EBI",
  "id": "3z9eh88kwk21k",
  "issns": [
    "1422-0067"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/20/9186",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2728|Traumatic Brain Injury and Neurovascular Disturbances"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7222442611",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13705088/pdf/?tool=EBI",
  "pmcid": "PMC13705088",
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "publisher": "MDPI AG",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3z9eh88kwk21k.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:57Z",
      "native_id": "10.3390/ijms27209186",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/20/9186"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:21:47Z",
      "native_id": "PMC:PMC13705088",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13705088"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2728|Traumatic Brain Injury and Neurovascular Disturbances",
      "subfield": "neurology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Disentangling the Effects of Craniotomy and Traumatic Brain Injury in Experimental Models: A Narrative Review",
  "title_text": "Disentangling the Effects of Craniotomy and Traumatic Brain Injury in Experimental Models: A Narrative Review",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:21:47Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3z9eh88kwk21k",
  "venue": "International Journal of Molecular Sciences",
  "versions": []
}