Cerebral palsy (CP) is a neurodevelopmental disorder usually occurring early in life and persisting through the whole life. Several risk factors, including perinatal hypoxia-ischemia (HI), may contribute to occurrence of CP in preterm infants. DNA hydroxymethylation has been shown to play an important role in neurodevelopment and neurodegenerative disorders. However, the effect of DNA hydroxymethylation in CP remains unknown. The aim of this study is to explore whether and how DNA hydroxymethylation is involved in CP pathogenesis. We observed that overall 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) abundance in the cortex of the temporal lobe of rat pups was decreased significantly after hypoxic-ischemic injury, and the reduced expression of Tet1 and Tet2 enzymes might be responsible for this change. Identified differential hydroxymethylation regions (DhMRs) were richly involved in multiple signaling pathways related to neuronal development and function. Furthermore, we found that reduced 5hmC modification on the DhMRs-related genes were accompanied by decrease of their mRNA expression levels. These results suggest that 5hmC modifications are involved in the CP pathogenesis and may potentially serve as a new therapeutic target.
Keywords: 5-hydroxymethylcytosine; DNA hydroxymethylation; Tet; cerebral palsy; hypoxic-ischemic injury; neurodevelopment.