Decreased mitochondrial DNA copy number in children with cerebral palsy quantified by droplet digital PCR

• Published in: Clinica chimica acta 2020-04, Vol.503, p.122-127
• Main Authors: Lu, Bichao, Zeng, Fanyong, Xing, Wen, Liang, Lin, Huo, Jianbo, Tan, Chianru, Zhu, Lingxiang, Liu, Zhizhong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cerebral palsy; Droplet digital PCR; Mitochondrial DNA copy number; Mitochondrial dysfunction
• ISSN: 0009-8981; 1873-3492
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cca.2020.01.018

•Droplet digital PCR enables absolute quantification and high precision.•Mitochondrial DNA copy number decreases in children with cerebral palsy.•Mitochondrial DNA copy number augments with the increase of age in healthy children.•Mitochondrial DNA copy number in hemiplegia is higher than that in quadriplegia. Mitochondrial DNA copy number is a potential biomarker for mitochondrial dysfunction and is involved in a variety of disease states including autism, neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic brain injury, but few studies on mitochondrial DNA copy number in cerebral palsy have been reported. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the role of mitochondrial DNA copy number in children with cerebral palsy. A total of 104 children with cerebral palsy and 78 typically developing children were enrolled in this study. All children with cerebral palsy were diagnosed according to clinical criteria and furtherly divided into clinical subtypes. Mitochondrial DNA copy number was quantified by droplet digital PCR. We observed a significant reduction in mitochondrial DNA copy number from children with cerebral palsy comparing to healthy controls (216.76 ± 71.39 vs 359.66 ± 72.78, p