Assessment of phospholipid synthesis related biomarkers for perinatal asphyxia: a piglet study

The prompt and reliable identification of infants at risk of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy secondary to perinatal asphyxia in the first critical hours is important for clinical decision-making and yet still remains a challenge. This work strives for the evaluation of a panel of metabolic biomarkers that have been associated with the hypoxic-ischemic insult in the perinatal period. Plasma and urine samples from a consolidated newborn piglet model of hypoxia and withdrawn before and at different time points after a hypoxic insult were analyzed and compared to a control group. Time-dependent metabolic biomarker profiles were studied and observed patterns were similar to those of lactate levels, which are currently considered the gold standard for assessing hypoxia. Class prediction performance could be improved by the use of a combination of the whole panel of determined metabolites in plasma as compared to lactate values. Using a multivariate model including lactate together with the studied metabolic biomarkers allowed to improve the prediction performance of duration of hypoxia time, which correlates with the degree of brain damage. The present study evidences the usefulness of choline and related metabolites for improving the early assessment of the severity of the hypoxic insult.