Various in vivo and in vitro models have been described in order to elucidate the pathobiology underlying the traumatic brain injury (TBI) and test potentially suitable treatments. Since TBI is a complex disease, models differ in regard to the aspect of TBI that is being investigated. One of the used in vitro models is the scratch wound assay, first established as a reproducible, low-cost assay for the analysis of cell migration in vitro. The aim of the present study was to further investigate the relevancy of this model as a counter- part of in vivo TBI models. We have examined the astrocytic response to a mechanical injury in terms of expression of chondroitin sul- fate proteoglycans (CSPGs) - phosphacan, neurocan and brevican, using real-time PCR and immunocytochemistry. Our results indicate that in vitro scratch wounding alters the expression profile of examined CSPGs. Four hours after the scratch injury of the astrocytic monolayer, real-time PCR analysis revealed upregulation of mRNA levels for phos- phacan (3-fold) and neurocan (2-fold), whereas brevican mRNA was downregulated (2-fold). Immunofluorescent sig- nal for phosphacan and neurocan was more intense in astro- cytes close to the injury site, while brevican was scarcely present in cultured astrocytes. Obtained results indicate that CSPGs are differ- entially expressed by astrocytes after scratch wounding, demonstrating that the scratch wound model might be suit- able for investigation of astrocyte-derived response to injury. Brojni in vivo i in vitro modeli opisani su sa ciljem da se rasvetle patobiološki procesi koji su osnova traumatske povrede mozga (TPM) i testiraju potencijalni tretmani. Imajući u vidu da je TPM kompleksno oboljenje, ovi modeli se medusobno razlikuju shodno aspektu TPM koji se ispitu- je. Jedan od in vitro modela je i povreda ćelijskog jednoslo- ja grebanjem (engl. »scratch wound« assay), isprva ustanov- ljen kao ponovljiv, jeftin test za analizu ćelijske migracije in vitro. Cilj ove študije je da se bliže ispita relevantnost ovog modela u odnosu na in vivo modele TPM. Da bi se istražio odgovor astrocita na mehaničku povredu, pradena je ekspresija odabranih hondroitin-sulfatnih proteoglikana (CSPG) - fosfakana, neurokana i brevikana, koriščenjem PCR u reálnom vremenu i imunocitohemije. Dobijeni rezultati su pokazali da in vitro povreda astrocitnog jednosloja menja profile ekspresije ispitivanih CSPG. Četiri sata nakon povrede, primena PCR u reálnom vremenu analize pokazala je povečanje nivoa iRNKza fos- fakan (trostruko) i neurokan (dvostruko), dok je iRNK za brevikan bila smanjena na polovinu kontrolne vrednosti. Imunofluorescentni signal poreklom od fosfakana i neuro- kana je bio intenzivniji u astrocitima bližim mestu povrede, dok je signal za brevikan bio slab kako u kontrolnoj, tako i u ozledenoj grupi. Dobijeni rezultati pokazuju da povreda izazvana grebanjem različito utiče na ekspresiju ispitivanih CSPG u astrocitima, što ukazuju da ovaj model može biti pogodan za ispitivanje odgovora astrocita na povredu.