Neonatal asphyxia and hyperthermia and cognitive deficits in adult rats: Role of iron

✍ Scribed by Justyna Rogalska; MichaŁ Caputa; Katarzyna Piątkowska; Anna Nowakowska

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 472 KB
• Volume: 34
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0306-4565
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2009.08.003

✦ Synopsis

We compared effects of a critical neonatal anoxia, applied in Wistar rats at body temperatures of 33, 37 and 39 1C, on memory performance in adulthood. Because hyperthermic-anoxic neonates suffer from hyperferremia an additional group of rats, exposed to anoxia at 39 1C, was injected with deferoxamine, a chelator of iron. At the age of 4 and 12 months all rats were examined in hole board, typical maze and Morris maze.

The memory was disturbed by neonatal anoxia at 39 1C. The disturbances were prevented by both the naturally reduced body temperature and by deferoxamine.

In conclusion, neonatal hyperthermia induces iron-mediated, extremely delayed postanoxic cognitive disturbances in adulthood.