New approaches to treat the consequences of birth asphyxia (Caffeine helped best)

Medical Xpress / Deutsches Zentrum / Scientific Reports ^ | July 3, 2023 | Hemmen Sabir et al

[ConservativeMind]

Brain damage caused by oxygen deficiency at birth is one of the main causes of death in newborns worldwide. Using a small animal model, researchers tested treatment with 25 different active agents. Seven substances proved to be more effective than the standard therapy of artificial cooling, and caffeine performed best.

Children, who experience oxygen deprivation during birth—a condition known as "birth asphyxia"—must be treated immediately, because the condition causes brain damage.

To address this, so-called therapeutic hypothermia has been used for several years.

"In high-income countries, the procedure is well established, however, about 40% of treated children do not benefit from it.

To date, hypothermia is the only established therapy for treating the consequences of oxygen shortage during childbirth.

Based on studies performed by other research groups, they identified a total of 25 promising agents, which they then tested in a small animal model under oxygen deprivation.

"Transferred to humans, this means that these agents are given while the mother is still giving birth," Sabir said. "However, only substances that can cross the placenta and therefore pass from the mother's bloodstream to the unborn child are suitable for this. We sort of simulated this situation in our study."

Seven days after oxygen deprivation, the animal brains were examined for damage. "Treatment with caffeine was the most effective, the loss of brain matter was lowest here and also significantly less than with hypothermic treatment," Sabir said. "Caffeine is known to have anti-inflammatory effects. Our study proves that caffeine is also extremely neuroprotective."

Six other agents also performed better than standard therapy. These comprise the hormone melatonin, a medicine against gout, an anti-allergy drug and fish oil. The total of seven particularly effective agents includes both ones that were administered before oxygen deprivation—such as caffeine—and ones whose application occurred only afterwards.

[ConservativeMind]

Caffeine was best, followed by “melatonin, a medicine against gout, an anti-allergy drug and fish oil.”

[ConservativeMind]

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[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Interesting.

So giving mom a couple of cups of espresso while she is in labor may work as a mitigating factor.

Can't hurt.

[iontheball]

I wonder if these ‘experts’ know about the possible umbilical cord restriction in the birth canal during natural delivery. The way to nail this down is to compare C-Section deliveries against natural deliveries.