title: Uridine protects against hypoxic-ischemic brain injury by reducing histone deacetylase activity in neonatal rats.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A significant cause of neurological disability in newborns is hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a disorder which involves an enhancement in histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity among underlying pathological mechanisms. We showed recently that exogenous administration of uridine to newborn rats with HIE reduced brain injury in a dose-dependent manner. The present study was performed to investigate whether uridine modulates histone acetylation/deacetylation balance in a neonatal rat model of HIE.
  
  
  METHODS
  Newborn rats that were subjected to hypoxic-ischemic (HI) insult on postnatal day 7 (P7) were injected intraperitoneally with either saline or uridine (500 mg/kg) for three consecutive days. One day after completion of treatment, brains of pups were collected for evaluation of brain infarct volume, apoptosis, HDAC activity and acetylated-Histone H3 (Ac-H3) and H4 (Ac-H4) protein levels.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results revealed that uridine administration reduced infarct volume, active Caspase-3 levels and HDAC activity while increasing the expressions of Ac-H3 and Ac-H4 proteins.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that one mechanism by which uridine provides neuroprotection in neonatal rat HIE model involves reduction in HDAC activity.
authors.affiliation: Uludag University Medical School Department of Physiology, Bursa, Turkey.
authors.forename: Turkan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koyuncuoglu
authors.affiliation: Uludag University Medical School Department of Pharmacology, Bursa, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mesut
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Turkyilmaz
authors.affiliation: Uludag University Medical School Department of Physiology, Bursa, Turkey.
authors.forename: Bulent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Goren
authors.affiliation: Kanuni Sultan Suleyman Training and Research Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Merih
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cetinkaya
authors.affiliation: Uludag University Medical School Department of Pharmacology, Bursa, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cansev
authors.affiliation: Uludag University Medical School Department of Physiology, Bursa, Turkey.
authors.forename: Tulin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Alkan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D056572:Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006655:Histone Deacetylases / Q000378:metabolism; D020925:Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D008297:Male; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011897:Random Allocation; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014529:Uridine / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D056572:Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; C505410:Casp3 protein, rat; D053148:Caspase 3; D006655:Histone Deacetylases; D014529:Uridine
keywords: Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy; histone deacetylase; neonatal; neuroprotection; rat; uridine