Platelet monoamine oxidase and erythrocyte adenosine triphosphatase as biomarkers of necrotizing enterocolitis

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The diagnostics of necrotizing enterocolitis is a complex and often ineffective issue. Biomarkers reflecting key links in the pathogenesis of the disease may serve as early predictors of development, progression, and severe course of necrotizing enterocolitis. AIM: To assess potentials of platelet monoamine oxidase activity and erythrocyte ATPase to predict the development of necrotizing enterocolitis in premature newborns. METHODS: The present study had two stages and included 28 children who were treated at the Chelyabinsk Regional Children’s Clinical Hospital from November 2021 to December 2022. At the first stage, premature newborns were examined; among them a group of newborns with necrotizing enterocolitis IIB–IIIA-B was identified. Venous blood was used for testings. At the second stage, specimens obtained from the intestine during surgical interventions in newborns with surgical pathology were examined additionally as well. RESULTS: Children with necrotizing enterocolitis showed a significant decrease in the specific activity of platelet monoamine oxidase which correlated with the activity of monoamine oxidase in gut specimens. The following changes were registered: decrease in the activity of magnesium adenosine triphosphatasein erythrocytes by 50–100% of the maximum enzyme activity in the control group; decrease of sodium-potassium adenosine triphosphatase activity y 4 times from the maximum values in the control group. There was also a significant increase in the activity of calcium adenosine triphosphatase activity in erythrocytes. CONCLUSION: The obtained data allow to suggest that platelet monoamine oxidase in preterm newborns may potentially serve as an indicator of tissue and organ immaturity, rather than a marker of inflammation and oxidative damage. Changes in erythrocyte adenosine triphosphatase activity in preterm infants with surgical stages of necrotizing enterocolitis indicate a hypoxic hypoenergetic state, accompanied by high concentrations of intracellular calcium. The obtained data are promising for developing new methods for diagnosis/prognosis of necrotizing enterocolitis in newborns.