Fig. 1

a Structure N-acetyl cysteine. b Post injury administration of NAC (50 mg/kg daily for 4 days) significantly improves MWM performance. MWM performance as measured by latency to reach the goal platform was compared between groups: TBI, TBI-NAC, and Sham. Both Sham and TBI-NAC groups have significantly shorter latencies to reach the goal platform as compared to the TBI group. Additionally, treatment with NAC after TBI improved performance in the MWM that reached sham levels. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM. *p < .05, ***p ≤ .001, sham relative to TBI. † p < .05 TBI-NAC relative to TBI. c Number of times animals crossed the within a 7.5 cm radius of the platform border during the probe trial. A one-way ANOVA showed significant differences between groups. Fisher’s LSD post hoc showed that sham and TBI-NAC (50 mg/kg daily for 4 days) had significantly better retention of the platform location as compared to TBI alone. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM. Brackets indicate comparisons between groups. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01