(E-166) Investigation of Spinal Cord Injury Biomarkers in the Cerebrospinal Fluid and Blood Serum after Neonatal Brachial Plexus Injury in Piglet

Introduction::
Neonatal Brachial Plexus Palsy (NBPP) is a birthing injury with an incidence of 1 to 4 per 1000 live births that can significantly impact the development and quality of life of a neonate depending on the extent of the injury. While some neonates spontaneously recover, 20-30% of neonates will not recover completely. In order to facilitate spontaneous recovery, therapeutic interventions such as physical therapy need to be employed early. Rapid diagnosis of NBPP is therefore essential.




Currently, diagnosis of NBPP relies on the use of time-consuming techniques that can be difficult to apply to neonates. Biomarker analysis is a sensitive technique that can provide insight into the injury extent and prognosis. Biomarker analysis of bodily fluids such as blood serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) allows for fast quantification of biomarkers after injury which would allow for an efficient diagnosis of NBPP.




Materials and Methods::
For this study, blood serum and CSF samples were collected from a neonatal piglet prior to a BP stretch injury and 3 hours after the injury. The stretch injury was performed utilizing previously established protocols. RT-qPCR and Western Blotting techniques were used to analyze the samples for the presence of spinal cord injury biomarkers.




Results, Conclusions, and Discussions::
Preliminary analysis using RT-qPCR and Western Blotting of structural biomarkers such as glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) have shown increased quantities in the CSF and blood serum as early as 3 hours after injury. GFAP levels in control samples were unable to be detected at all, while injury samples showed clear amplification during RT-qPCR in both blood serum and CSF. In Western Blot analysis, clear bands at the molecular weight of GFAP were seen for both control and injury samples in the CSF. The injury samples had more prominent bands compared to controls, thus an increase in GFAP after injury was shown. Due to the excessive amount of blood serum proteins, the blood serum samples need to be depleted of these proteins prior to gel electrophoresis for clearer results, however, an increase in band intensity was observed with injury samples when compared to controls.




Acknowledgements (Optional): :
Acknowledgments: This project was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health R15HD093024; R01HD104910-01A1 and NSF CAREER Grant Award #1752513.











References (Optional): :


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