Neuroprotective Treatments after Perinatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury Evaluated with Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Abstract

Perinatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury is a major health problem. Adjuvant treatments that improve the neuroprotective effect of the current treatment, therapeutic hypothermia, are urgently needed. The growing knowledge about the complex pathophysiology of hypoxia-ischemia (HI) has led to the discovery of several important targets for neuroprotection. Early interventions should focus on the preservation of energy metabolism, the reduction of glutamate excitotoxicity and oxidative stress, the maintenance of calcium homeostasis, and the prevention of apoptosis. Delayed interventions should promote injury repair. The multiple metabolic changes following HI as well as the metabolic effects of potential treatments can be observed noninvasively by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). This mini-review provides an overview of the neuroprotective pharmacological agents that have been evaluated with 1H/31P/13C MRS. A better understanding of how these agents influence cerebral metabolism and the use of relevant translational MRS biomarkers can guide future clinical trials.

Keywords: Asphyxia; Cell death; Energy metabolism; Excitotoxicity; Neuroprotection; Oxidative stress.