Skin patch could reduce risk of brain damage during labour

A SKIN patch could soon be a game-changer for newborns starved of oxygen during birth, after Australian researchers found it could reduce the risk of brain damage during labour.

A SIMPLE skin patch that ­releases the “sleep hormone” could soon be a game-changer for newborns starved of oxygen during birth, after Australian researchers found it could reduce the risk of brain damage during labour.

Oxygen deprivation at childbirth, or perinatal asphyxia, kills one million babies globally each year and is the leading cause of birth injuries such as cerebral palsy and intellectual disability.

A team from the Ritchie Centre at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is working to understand the injury that occurs during birth asphyxia.

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The research team is part-funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Picture: AAP

In their latest study on animals, they found delivering antioxidants to a newborn as soon as possible after birth could reduce the amount of ­oxidative stress causing the brain cell death.

Associate Professor Suzanne Miller said Australia’s high-quality antenatal care meant it was usually possible for obstetricians and midwives to recognise when a baby was in distress before or during childbirth, and intervene with an emergency caesarean.

Delivering antioxidants to a newborn as soon as possible after birth could reduce the amount of ­oxidative stress causing the brain cell death.

In newborn lambs, researchers tested the effect of multiple melatonin skin patches for the first 24 hours after birth, compared with four hours of intravenous melatonin treatment starting 30 minutes after birth.

Prof Miller said the patch and IV melatonin were able to reduce brain cell death, compared with the animals receiving no treatment, and their functional outcomes improved.

Melatonin allowed the animals to have the same muscle tone, ability to feed and stand at three days of age, just like uninjured animals.

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