Doxycycline attenuates renal injury in a swine model of neonatal hypoxia-reoxygenation.

Acute kidney injury in asphyxiated neonates is common. The renal protective effects of doxycycline, a known matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitor, have been demonstrated in rat ischemic-reperfusion models of injury. These effects have not been tested in large-animal models designed to reflect true clinical scenarios of neonatal hypoxia-reoxygenation (H-R). Newborn piglets were surgically instrumented for hemodynamic monitoring and subjected to 2 h of hypoxia followed by 4 h of normoxic reoxygenation. Piglets were blindly randomized to receive i.v. saline or doxycycline (3, 10, or 30 mg/kg) 5 min into reoxygenation (n = 7 per group). Sham-operated piglets (n = 5) received no H-R. Renal injury was investigated by histologic examination and measuring serum creatinine, urinary N-acetyl-D-glucosaminidase activity and renal tissue lactate with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Renal tissue oxidative stress (lipid hydroperoxides) and total MMP-2 activity were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and gelatin zymography, respectively. Piglets treated with doxycycline had significantly improved cardiac index, systemic arterial pressure, renal artery blood flow, and oxygen delivery, with no difference observed in heart rate compared with controls. The H-R piglets had significantly higher urinary N-acetyl-D-glucosaminidase activity, renal tissue lipid hydroperoxides, lactate, and MMP-2 activity, which were attenuated to varied degrees in a dose-related manner in piglets treated with doxycycline (P = 0.08 to P < 0.05). Serum creatinine and histologic features of H-R were not different among groups. Postresuscitation administration of doxycycline improved renal perfusion, attenuated renal injury, and reduced tissue oxidative stress and MMP-2 activity in a clinically translatable newborn swine model of H-R.