Fig. 6

RIPK1 and RIPK3 deficiency improves neurocognitive performance three months after TBI. a and b Motor impairment after TBI. Beam Walk Test revealed long term impaired motor function of the left hind limb in TBI animals (missteps compared to respective baseline, # for WT, * for KO), but there were no differences between a RIPK1 or b RIPK3 knockout animals and their respective controls. c and d Depression-like behavior after TBI. Mice of both strains showed an increase of total immobility time throughout the time course of three months, however no significant differences could be detected between RIPK1 (c) and RIPK3 (d) knockout animals compared to wild type. e and f Learning and memory dysfunction after TBI. CCI induces severe long-term memory deficits in WT mice (open circles) while RIPK1 or RIPK3 knockout animals (grey circles) show similar long-term memory function as uninjured littermate controls. Data are presented as mean ± SD; n = 9–10 for RIPK1, n = 8–9 for RIPK3. Two-way RM ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test was used. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.005, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001