Cardiorespiratory and Neuroprotective Effects of Caffeine in Neonate Animal Models
Daniel Mota-Rojas,
Dina Villanueva-García,
Ismael Hernández-Ávalos,
Alejandro Casas-Alvarado,
Adriana Domínguez-Oliva,
Karina Lezama-García,
Agatha Miranda-Cortés,
Julio Martínez-Burnes
Affiliations
Daniel Mota-Rojas
Neurophysiology, Behavior and Animal Welfare Assessment, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), Mexico City 04960, Mexico
Dina Villanueva-García
Division of Neonatology, National Institute of Health, Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, Mexico City 06720, Mexico
Ismael Hernández-Ávalos
Clinical Pharmacology and Veterinary Anesthesia, Facultad de Estudios Superiores Cuautitlán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Cuautitlán 54714, Mexico
Alejandro Casas-Alvarado
Neurophysiology, Behavior and Animal Welfare Assessment, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), Mexico City 04960, Mexico
Adriana Domínguez-Oliva
Neurophysiology, Behavior and Animal Welfare Assessment, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), Mexico City 04960, Mexico
Karina Lezama-García
Neurophysiology, Behavior and Animal Welfare Assessment, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), Mexico City 04960, Mexico
Agatha Miranda-Cortés
Clinical Pharmacology and Veterinary Anesthesia, Facultad de Estudios Superiores Cuautitlán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Cuautitlán 54714, Mexico
Julio Martínez-Burnes
Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, Victoria City 87000, Mexico
Caffeine is widely used to improve neonatal health in animals with low vitality. Due to its pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, caffeine stimulates the cardiorespiratory system by antagonism of adenosine receptors and alteration in Ca+2 ion channel activity. Moreover, the availability of intracellular Ca+2 also has positive inotropic effects by increasing heart contractibility and by having a possible positive effect on neonate vitality. Nonetheless, since neonatal enzymatic and tissular systems are immature at birth, there is a controversy about whether caffeine is an effective therapy for newborns. This review aims to analyze the basic concepts of caffeine in neonatal animal models (rat and mouse pups, goat kids, lambs, and piglets), and it will discuss the neuroprotective effect and its physiological actions in reducing apnea in newborns.
