Effect of hypoxia on DNA fragmentation in different brain regions of the newborn piglet

DNA fragmentation has been studied in different regions of the newborn pigl et brain following different times of normobaric hypoxia (5% O-2, 95% N-2) After 1 hr of hypoxia, fragmented DNA was observed in cerebellum, cortex, h ippocampus, and striatum but not in hypothalamus. More fragmentation occurr ed in these areas of the brain when the animals were kept under hypoxia for times up to 8 hr 45 min. When the animals were submitted to hypoxia for tw o and a half hours, integrity of DNA was recovered respectively after 3 hr of exposure to the ambient atmosphere in hippocampus and striatum, but 4 hr of recovery were necessary for cerebellum and cortex. These results ave di scussed in terms of the consequences of neonatal hypoxia and apnea for newb orn infants and economical impact for farm animals. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 57:15 3-158, 2000. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.