A study developed at the Pre-Clinical Research Center and the Neuroscience Laboratory of the Instituto do Cerebro do RS, in partnership with UFRGS researchers, studies events of hypoxia and cerebral ischemia in newborns that are capable of triggering important brain changes leading to to the development of permanent neurological diseases, which can range from mild cognitive and motor disabilities to cerebral palsy. These brain changes include abnormalities in the metabolism of the brain that may be related to the severity of the insult.
Changes in cerebral glucose metabolism were investigated in an experimental model of neonatal hypoxia-ischemia by means of the Positron Emission Microtomography (microPET) image that, combined with a radiopharmaceutical analogous to the glucose molecule (FDG), is able to measure the consumption of glucose by the cells of animals (as well as its equivalent for humans: PETscan).
The results showed that hypoxia-ischemia was able to decrease the consumption of cerebral glucose for most animals, and this change was accompanied by deficits in spatial memory. However, part of the animals that did not show changes in metabolism also showed significant memory impairment. This dissociation between metabolism and cognitive performance indicated changes in brain function even without detectable changes in the microPET images. Only with the construction of a cerebral metabolic network, based on the findings of the microPET-FDG, brain alterations were identified even without the impairment of metabolism. The cerebral metabolic network is an innovative analysis in the investigation of abnormalities in brain circuits that is based on functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging or PETscan, for example.
In this study, it was demonstrated for the first time that long-term changes in the brain's metabolic network cause memory impairment in animals submitted to neonatal hypoxia-ischemia, using microPET-FDG images. The results provided evidence that the cerebral metabolic network may play an important role in elucidating brain function for neonatal hypoxia-ischemia, as well as for other neurological pathologies.
