The Susceptibility of the Aortic Root: Porcine Aortic Rupture Testing Under Cardiopulmonary Bypass

By using an established rat model of CPB that does not display neuronal loss, we examined behavioral and structural effects of CPB at 6 months postsurgery. Persistent deficits in performance on a complex behavioral task and sustained activation of macrophages/microglia were observed with no evidence of neuronal loss.