Maternal Minocycline as Fetal Therapy in a Rat Model of Myelomeningocele.

J Surg Res

Division of General Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland. Electronic address:

Published: September 2024

AI Article Synopsis

  • This study explored the effects of the antibiotic minocycline on reducing inflammation and cell death in fetal rats with myelomeningocele (MMC) when administered to pregnant rats.
  • Pregnant rats were treated with different substances to induce MMC in their fetuses, and then some mothers received minocycline, with their offspring's spinal cords analyzed for inflammation and cell death markers.
  • The results suggested that minocycline exposure led to lower levels of inflammation and cell death markers in the fetal spinal cords, indicating its potential as a prenatal treatment for spinal cord issues associated with MMC.

Article Abstract

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate whether the maternal administration of minocycline, a tetracycline antibiotic known to have anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties in models of neural injury, reduces inflammation and neural cell death in a fetal rat model of myelomeningocele (MMC).

Methods: E10 pregnant rats were gavaged with olive oil or olive oil + retinoic acid to induce fetal MMC. At E12, the dams were exposed to regular drinking water or water containing minocycline (range, 40-140 mg/kg/day). At E21, fetal lumbosacral spinal cords were isolated for immunohistochemistry and quantitative gene expression studies focused on microglia activity, inflammation, and apoptosis (P < 0.05).

Results: There was a trend toward decreased activated Iba1+ microglial cells within the dorsal spinal cord of MMC pups following minocycline exposure when compared to water (HO) alone (P = 0.052). Prenatal minocycline exposure was correlated with significantly reduced expression of the proinflammatory cytokine, IL-6 (minocycline: 1.75 versus HO: 3.52, P = 0.04) and apoptosis gene, Bax (minocycline: 0.71 versus HO: 1.04, P < 0.001) among MMC pups.

Conclusions: This study found evidence that the maternal administration of minocycline reduces selected markers of inflammation and apoptosis within the exposed dorsal spinal cords of fetal MMC rats. Further study of minocycline as a novel prenatal treatment strategy to mitigate spinal cord damage in MMC is warranted.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2024.07.088DOI Listing

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