Biomarkers of brain injury in foals with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

The research investigates potential biomarkers for diagnosing Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (NHIE), a condition affecting newborn foals, leveraging ELISA tests for the Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase 1 (UCHL1) and phosphorylated axonal forms of neurofilament H (pNF-H). It is concluded that UCHL1 demonstrated greater diagnostic performance and reliability over pNF-H, hence, it could serve as a promising biomarker for NHIE.

Objectives and Methodology

• The research aims to identify a potent biomarker for NHIE, a disease that currently lacks any diagnostic test. The biomarkers under study were UCHL1 and pNF-H, associated with brain injuries.
• Thirty-three foals diagnosed clinically with NHIE and 17 healthy foals were evaluated in this retrospective study.
• The plasma levels of UCHL1 and pNF-H were measured using Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), a commonly used laboratory test to detect and measure antibodies in blood.
• To assess how well these biomarkers could be used for diagnosing NHIE, a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was conducted.
• Plasma concentrations of these biomarkers were also measured in the brains of 2 healthy foals to establish a reference.

Findings

• The diagnostic performance of UCHL1 was significantly higher than that of pNF-H, as indicated by the Area Under the Curve (AUC) values of 0.86 and 0.52, respectively.
• UCHL1 concentrations were found to be higher in the foals with NHIE compared to healthy foals. The specified right-sided reference interval for healthy foals was 0-4.01 ng/mL.
• The sensitivity (true positive rate) and specificity (true negative rate) of UCHL1 for diagnosing NHIE were quite notable at 70% and 94%, respectively.
• UCHL1 concentrations were higher in grey matter than in white matter, contrasting with pNF-H concentrations, which were higher in white matter than grey matter.

Conclusions

• The potential of UCHL1 as a biomarker for brain injury in foals with NHIE has been underscored in this study.
• The higher concentrations of UCHL1 in foals exhibiting NHIE, combined with its superior diagnostic performance and high sensitivity and specificity rates, position it as a reliable biomarker for detecting this disease.