• Hippokratia · Apr 2015

    Mobilization of circulating progenitor cells following brain injury in premature neonates could be indicative of an endogenous repair process. A pilot study.

    • N Efstathiou, V Soubasi, G Koliakos, G Kyriazis, D I Zafeiriou, A Slavakis, K Kantziou, T Pozotou, O Chatzizisi, and V Drosou-Agakidou.
    • 1 Neonatal Department and NICU, Hippokration General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
    • Hippokratia. 2015 Apr 1; 19 (2): 141-7.

    BackgroundPreclinical data and adult studies have showed an endogenous regeneration process following brain damage that involves mobilization of progenitor cells. This process is not well described in preterm neonates. The present study aims to investigate the mobilization of Circulating Progenitor Cells (CPCs) and their relation to biomarkers of brain injury in preterm neonates.MethodsThis is a prospective cohort study of preterm infants with gestational age (GA) <34 weeks. Serial cranial ultrasounds scans were performed in all neonates. Brain injury was defined by the presence of intraventricular hemorrhage grade III/IV, cystic periventricular leukomalacia or infarct. Peripheral blood samples were collected from all neonates on days(d) 1, 3, 9, 18 and 45 of life for the measurement of levels of CPCs [early and late Endothelial Progenitor Cells (EPCs), Haematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs) and Very Small Embryonic-Like Stem Cells (VSELs)], Neuron-Specific Enolase (NSE), S100b, Erythropoietin (EPO) and Stromal Cell-Derived Factor-1 (SDF-1) .ResultsTen out of the 23 preterm infants included in the study developed brain injury; the remaining thirteen infants served as controls. In the brain injury group a significant increase of HSCs (d9, d45), early EPCs (d3, d9, d18) and late EPCs (d1, d3, d9, d18, d45) was observed compared to controls. VSELs on d45 were significantly higher in controls. S100b on d1, EPO on d1, SDF-1 on d3 and NSE on d18 were significantly increased in the brain injury group. Moreover, CPCs were significantly related to S100b, NSE, EPO and SDF-1 levels at multiple time points.ConclusionsThe observed pattern of CPCs mobilization and its association with biomarkers following brain injury in preterm neonates indicate the existence of an endogenous brain regeneration process. Enhancement of this process with exogenous progenitor cell transplantation might be a powerful therapeutic strategy to restore brain damage and improve the neurodevelopmental outcome in premature infants. Hippokratia 2015; 19 (2):141-147.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…