Protective effect of erythropoietin in a neonatal model of brain damage

Introduction: Erythropoietin (EPO) is a cytokine with powerful hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic effects. Various studies have demonstrated a protective effect of EPO in models of brain injury in vitro and in vivo. Since EPO is being considered as a candidate for neuroprotection in neonatal medicine, we investigated whether recombinant EPO (rEPO) has neuroprotective properties in a neonatal neurodegeneration model. In this model, apoptotic neuronal death is induced in the infant rat brain by administration of glutamate N-methyl-D-asparate (NMDA) receptor antagonists.