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Effect of Moderate Hypocapnic Ventilation on Nuclear DNA Fragmentation and Energy Metabolism in the Cerebral Cortex of Newborn Piglets

Previous studies have shown that severe hypocapnic ventilation [arterial carbon dioxide partial pressure (Paco2) 7–10 mm Hg] in newborn animals results in decreased cerebral blood flow and decreased tissue oxidative metabolism. The present study tests the hypothesis that moderate hypocapnic ventilation (Paco2 20 mm Hg) will result in decreased cerebral oxidative metabolism and nuclear DNA fragmentation in the cerebral cortex of normoxemic newborn piglets. Studies were performed in 10 anesthetized newborn piglets. The animals were ventilated for 1 h to achieve a Paco2 of 20 mm Hg in the hypocapnic (H) group (n = 5) and a Paco2 of 40 mm Hg in the normocapnic, control (C) group (n = 5). Tissue oxidative metabolism, reflecting tissue oxygenation, was documented biochemically by measuring tissue ATP and phosphocreatine (PCr) levels. Cerebral cortical nuclei were purified, nuclear DNA was isolated, and DNA content was determined. DNA samples were separated, stained, and compared with a standard DNA ladder. Tissue PCr levels were significantly lower in the H group than the C group (2.32 ± 0.66 versus 3.73 ± 0.32 μmol/g brain, p < 0.05), but ATP levels were preserved. Unlike C samples, H samples displayed a smear pattern of small molecular weight fragments between 100 and 12,000 bp. The density of DNA fragments was eight times higher in the H group than the C group, and DNA fragmentation varied inversely with levels of PCr (r = 0.93). These data demonstrate that moderate hypocapnia of 1 h duration results in decreased oxidative metabolism that is associated with DNA fragmentation in the cerebral cortex of newborn piglets. We speculate that hypocapnia-induced hypoxia results in increased intranuclear Ca2+ flux, which causes protease and endonuclease activation, DNA fragmentation, and periventricular leukomalacia in newborn infants.