Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 23, 2026
A Piglet Model of Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy
Published on: May 16, 2015
Liver enzymes cannot be used to predict liver damage after global hypoxia-ischemia in a neonatal pig model
Mathias Karlsson1, Saulius Satas, Janet Stone
1Department of Clinical Science at South Bristol (Child Health), St Michael's Hospital, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Background:
The term newborn pig is an established model for studying both brain and organ pathology after hypoxia-ischemia (HI). Serial liver enzyme activity is often used to predict liver injury but little is known about the relation between consecutive values of different liver enzymes and histologically verified liver injury.
Objective:
To determine whether plasma values of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) differed between newborn pigs with liver injures and pigs with normal livers after a severe global HI insult.
Methods:
Nineteen < or =36-hour-old pigs underwent a 45-min global HI insult followed by 72-hour survival. Four histological sections from standardized areas within each liver were examined. Areas under the curve (AUC) for the enzymes were calculated and compared between pigs with pathological changes in the liver (n = 12) and pigs with normal liver histology (n = 7).
Results:
No differences in AUC for the enzyme values were seen between the groups. However, in pigs with liver injuries a transient significant increase in LDH at the end of the HI insult (928 U/l (567-1,031)) was seen compared to the baseline value (679 U/l (548-866), p = 0.010). Significantly more liver injury was seen in animals with the umbilical vein catheter (UVC) tip inserted into the liver (p = 0.040) compared to animals with the UVC tip located outside the liver.
Conclusions:
In newborn pigs subjected to global HI, only LDH increases alongside pathological changes in the liver. Normal values of ALT and AST do not exclude hepatic injury.
