Brain injury is a major source of patient morbidity after cardiac surgery in children. New early accurate biomarkers are needed for the diagnosis of patients at risk for cerebral postoperative damage. Specific circulating miRNAs have been found as suitable biomarkers for many diseases. We tested whether miRNA-124a reflects neurological injury in pediatric patients following heart surgery. Serum samples were obtained from 34 patients before and six hours after heart surgery. MiRNAs-124a was quantified by RQ-PCR. MiRNA-124a levels six hours after heart surgery correlated with the neurological outcome of the patients. In children with neurological deficits, miRNA-124a levels increased while in those with no neurological deficits the levels decreased. MiRNA-124a was able, at six hours after the operation, to identify patients who are at risk for the appearance of neurological deficits. Circulating miRNA-124a is a potential biomarker for the appearance of neurological deficits in pediatric patients following heart surgery.

脑损伤是儿童心脏手术后患者发病率的主要来源。需要新的早期准确生物标志物来诊断有脑术后损伤风险的患者。已发现特定循环 miRNA 作为许多疾病的合适生物标志物。我们测试了 miRNA-124a 是否反映了心脏手术后儿科患者的神经损伤。34 名患者在心脏手术前和手术后 6 小时获得血清样本。通过 RQ-PCR 对 miRNAs-124a 进行定量。心脏手术后 6 小时的 miRNA-124a 水平与患者的神经系统结果相关。在有神经功能障碍的儿童中，miRNA-124a 水平升高，而在没有神经功能障碍的儿童中，miRNA-124a 水平下降。miRNA-124a 能够在手术后 6 小时内，识别有出现神经功能缺损风险的患者。循环 miRNA-124a 是心脏手术后儿科患者出现神经功能缺损的潜在生物标志物。