Repeated prenatal corticosteroids reduce glial fibrillary acidic protein in the ovine central nervous system
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J.A. Quinlivan
Abstract
Introduction: A single course of corticosteroid reduces intracranial hemorrhage in preterm infants. The mechanism of protection is unclear. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), expressed by astrocytes, is regulated by glucosteroids and is an important component of the cells forming the blood brain barrier. We have evaluated the effect of prenatal corticosteroid upon ovine GFAP.
Methods: Date-mated ewes were studied in two protocols and lambs delivered on day 125 or 145 (term = 150). In the maternal injection protocol (n = 36) ewes were administered saline, single or repeated injections of corticosteroid. In the fetal injection protocol (n = 48) direct ultrasound-guided fetal injections of saline, single or repeated corticosteroid were administered, and an additional control group did not receive fetal injections. Optic nerve GFAP immunohistochemistry was performed and quantified.
Results: At 125 days, repeated, but not single, administration of corticosteroid, by either maternal or fetal route, was associated with a significant reduction in GFAP (both p < 0.002); by 145 days, the deficit had recovered (both p > 0.05). The process of performing repeated fetal injections had an independent effect upon GFAP at 145 days (p = 0.002).
Conclusion: Repeated administration of corticosteroid results in a reduction in GFAP in the developing ovine optic nerve, with recovery demonstrated by 145 days.
Copyright © 2002 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
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Articles in the same Issue
- Cutaneous and subcutaneous infections in newborns due to anaerobic bacteria
- Repeated prenatal corticosteroids reduce glial fibrillary acidic protein in the ovine central nervous system
- Are intrapartum and neonatal deaths in breech delivery at term potentially avoidable? – A blinded controlled audit
- A comparison of clinical variables that predict adverse outcome in term infants with severe respiratory failure randomised to a policy of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or to conventional neonatal intensive care
- Experience with first level ultrasound and echocardiography for a selected and an unselected population
- Fetal superior mesenteric artery blood flow velocimetry in normal and high-risk pregnancy
- The midwife factor in obstetric procedures and neonatal outcome
- Cerebral intracellular calcium concentrations in asphyxiated rat fetuses resuscitated with oxygen
- V-shaped deceleration differs in the pattern of carotid blood flow from variable deceleration provoked by cord compression
- Sudden intractable respiratory failure in extremely low birth weight infants with H-type tracheoesophageal fistula
- Neuropathological features of the brain in acardius acormus
- Transient postpartum diabetes insipidus in twin pregnancy associated with HELLP syndrome
- Congress Calendar
- WAPM-Newsletter No 1/2002
