Identification of New Treatments for Neonatal H-I Encephalopathy

Xin Wang and colleagues from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Boston Medical Center in the U.S., along with collaborators from Weifang Medical University in China and Christian Medical College in India, will identify new treatments and associated diagnostic biomarkers for hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in newborns, which is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. In Phase I they discovered that agonists of the melatonin receptor, alone or in combination with hypothermia, could prevent newborn hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in a mouse model. In Phase II, they will study the mechanism of action of these agonists, and evaluate their potential as diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers in newborn mice and humans with hypoxic-ischemic brain injury to help rapid detection and the optimization of treatment strategies.