antioxidants Article NAC and Vitamin D Restore CNS Glutathione in Endotoxin-Sensitized Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Rats Lauren E. Adams 1,†, Hunter G. Moss 2,† , Danielle W. Lowe 3,† , Truman Brown 2, Donald B. Wiest 4, Bruce W. Hollis 1, Inderjit Singh 1 and Dorothea D. Jenkins 1,* 1 Department of Pediatrics, 10 McLellan Banks Dr, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, USA;
[email protected] (L.E.A.);
[email protected] (B.W.H.);
[email protected] (I.S.) 2 Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Medical University of South Carolina, 68 President St. Room 205, Charleston, SC 29425, USA;
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[email protected] (T.B.) 3 Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of South Carolina, 67 Presidents St., MSC 861, Charleston, SC 29425, USA;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +1-843-792-2112 † Three first authors contributed equally to this work. Abstract: Therapeutic hypothermia does not improve outcomes in neonatal hypoxia ischemia (HI) complicated by perinatal infection, due to well-described, pre-existing oxidative stress and neuroin- flammation that shorten the therapeutic window. For effective neuroprotection post-injury, we must first define and then target CNS metabolomic changes immediately after endotoxin-sensitized HI (LPS-HI). We hypothesized that LPS-HI would acutely deplete reduced glutathione (GSH), indicating overwhelming oxidative stress in spite of hypothermia treatment in neonatal rats. Post-natal day 7 Citation: Adams, L.E.; Moss, H.G.; rats were randomized to sham ligation, or severe LPS-HI (0.5 mg/kg 4 h before right carotid artery Lowe, D.W.; Brown, T.; Wiest, D.B.; ligation, 90 min 8% O2), followed by hypothermia alone or with N-acetylcysteine (25 mg/kg) and Hollis, B.W.; Singh, I.; Jenkins, D.D.