Elevated levels of caspase-3 in cerebrospinal fluid of newborns with perinatal asphyxia: A biomarker of failing mitochondrial bioenergetics

Abstract

Mitochondria act as metabolic hubs within the cell, which are essential for energy production to fulfill the bioenergetic and biosynthetic demands of the developing brain. Failing mitochondrial bioenergetics can play a central role in neuronal cell death in pathological conditions like perinatal asphyxia (PA), which can be associated with insult progression over days and the development of a more severe condition hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) in the neonates. Therefore, to evaluate the role of mitochondrial bioenergetics in PA/HIE, we estimated apoptotic markers like caspase-3 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of newborns with asphyxia (n = 42) and control (n =17) at birth. Apgar scores < 7 at 5 min were considered as asphyxic. Further, through sarnat scoring, the asphyxic neonates were divided into different stages of HIE. CSF sample was collected as sample-1 on day-1 and sample-2 on day-7 after asphyxia. We observed a significant (p < 0.05) increase in the levels of caspase-3 in the HIE stage (s)-III compared to s-II and s-I and a marked increase in the control group in sample-1. Further, the levels of caspase-3 were markedly elevated in HIE s-III compared to s-II and s-I in sample-2, which depicts the persistence of neuronal insult. The increased levels of caspase-3 in the CSF of neonates with different stages of HIE after asphyxia indicate activation of apoptosis in the developing brain of neonates, which can lead to neurological abnormalities in the later stage of life. © 2022 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.