The correlation of elevated levels of an index of lipid peroxidation (MDA‐TBA) with adverse outcome in the very low birthweight infant

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between malondialdehyde-thiobarbituric acid (MDA-TBA) levels, as a measure of lipid peroxidation, in very low birthweight (VLBW) infants and outcome measures. A prospective observational longitudinal study was carried out in two level III neonatal units in the South Island of New Zealand measuring MDA-TBA levels in 61 VLBW infants in 1993. MDA-TBA levels were measured in (i) maternal plasma within 48 h of parturition, (ii) cord plasma, and (iii) infants' plasma at 2, 7, 14 and 28 days of age and correlated with antenatal and postnatal factors. Elevated levels of plasma MDA-TBA at 7 days were associated with adverse respiratory and ophthalmological outcome in the VLBW infants. Elevated MDA-TBA levels were measured at sample times close to the time of death in the infants who died. These results substantiate previously reported preliminary observations and support the hypothesis that oxidative injury, particularly within the first 7 days of life, is associated with the development of the long-term complications of the pre-term infant. MDA-TBA levels appear to be a useful measure to continue to explore the role of free radical mediated disease in the VLBW infant.

Neurobiology of Periventricular Leukomalacia in the Premature Infant

“…Consistent with these findings, we showed that cultured OL precursors were totally resistant to free radical attack in the presence of the iron chelator, desferrioxamine (45). Supporting the relevance of these findings to the human infant are studies of plasma of human premature infants suggesting both a propensity to generate free radicals, including the hydroxyl radical, and impaired antioxidant defenses (87)(88)(89)(90)(91)(92)(93)(94)(95)(96). Moreover, the first reported study of peroxidation products in CSF of premature infants shows elevations in infants with subsequent evidence of WM injury by magnetic resonance imaging, compared with levels in infants without WM injury (97).…”

Free Radical Status in Retinopathy of Prematurity

“…Two different studies by schlenzig et al [15] and Inder et al [16] found MDA excretion in urine and plasma MDA, respectively, to be higher in infants who developed bronchopulmonary disease. Table 1 depicts that the value of SOD and GPX were significantly increased in study group as compared to the control group (P \ 0.001).…”

Suppressive effects of breast milk on oxidative DNA damage in very low birthweight infants

“…Although human milk contains many kinds of antioxidant and has long been thought to prevent diseases mediated by oxygen free radicals in VLBW infants, [10][11][12] our study is the first to present direct evidence of this antioxidant action by measuring urinary 8-OHdG excretion. Although the measurement of lipid peroxide concentrations using the malondialdehydethiobarbituric acid assay is the most widely used method of measuring free radical activity, [22][23][24] its accuracy in measuring radical activity and the resultant lipid peroxidation may be compromised by its indirectness and susceptibility to contamination by other thiobarbituric acid reactive species. Damaged DNA is repaired by non-specific endonucleases and specific glycosylases in vivo, and eliminated oxidised nucleotides are finally excreted into the urine as 8-OHdG.…”