A study on the effect of HIE treatment by umbilical cord blood and EPO using mouse microarray. A study on the effect of HIE treatment by umbilical cord blood and EPO using mouse microarray

Neonatal hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) results in neurological impairments; cell-based therapy has been suggested as a therapeutic avenue. Previous research has demonstrated the synergistically potentiated therapeutic efficacy of human umbilical cord blood (UCB) by combining recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO) treatment for recovery from HIE. However, its molecular mechanism is not entirely understood. In the present study, we analyzed the mechanisms underlying the effect of combination treatment with EPO and UCB by transcriptomic analysis, followed by gene enrichment analysis. The HIE model of the neonate was prepared and randomly divided into five groups: sham, HIE, and UCB, EPO, and UCB+EPO treatments after HIE. A total of 376 genes were differentially expressed when |log2FC| ≥ 1-fold change expression values were considered to be differentially expressed between UCB+EPO and HIE. Further assessment through qRT-PCR and gene enrichment analysis confirmed the expression and correlation of its potential target Gene N as an essential gene involved in the synergistic effect of the UCB+EPO combination. Overall design: At 7 days post-injury, the operated pups were randomly assigned into 5 groups (each group, n=8 to 10). UCB (3 ×10^7 /kg, intraperitoneal injection once at 7d post-injury), EPO (500 IU/kg, intraperitoneal injection for five consecutive days from 7d HIE), UCB+EPO (at the same dose and schedule as the other groups) were intraperitoneally administered, and PBS (five consecutive days from 7 d HIE) was injected as a control (HIE). Five array data were obtained for a total of five samples, one each. A total of 5 samples were named 1) sham, 2) HIE, 3) HIE+EPO, 4) HIE+UCB, and 5) HIE+EPO+UCB according to the treatment method.