Association of Neonatal Asphyxia With Serum Levels of Heat Shock Protein 27 in a Small Sample of Newborns

Neonatal asphyxia is a state of hypoxia and hypercapnia caused by failure to breathe spontaneously and regularly soon after birth. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are a ubiquitous and diverse group of highly conserved proteins which are rapidly up-regulated following periods of cellular stress including exposure to heat, ultraviolet irradiation, or chemical toxicity. The aim of the current study was to explore whether there is a relation between serum levels of HSP27 and neonatal asphyxia in a small sample of newborns. A total of 25 healthy newborns and 25 newborns diagnosed with neonatal asphyxia were recruited form Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad, Iran. The Apgar score was recorded at one minute after delivery by trained nurses and newborns with the Apgar score of less than 7 were considered to be asphyctic. The mean birth weight of newborns in the case and control groups were 3110.47±613.5 g and 3230.4±584.83 g, respectively (P=0.4). Moreover, the mean maternal age of infants in the case group was higher than the mean maternal age of infants in the control group (31.1±6.1 vs. 30.1±5.0). Although it was marginally significant, the level of HSP27 was higher in the case group than the control group (0.23±0.08 vs. 0.19±0.09; P=0.07). Levels of HSP27 were found to be higher in newborns with neonatal asphyxia compared with healthy controls.