The vulnerable developing brain

The vulnerable developing brain.

D uring healthy pregnancy, appropriate levels of fetal nutrition and oxygenation are indispensable for the optimal growth and development of the fetal organs. In pregnancy complicated by decreased nutrient and oxygen delivery to the fetus, current dogma is that the growth and development of key organs, such as the brain, are “spared” at the expense of nonessential organs served by peripheral va...

Axon-glia synapses are highly vulnerable to white matter injury in the developing brain.

The biology of cerebral white matter injury has been woefully understudied, in part because of the difficulty of reliably modeling this type of injury in rodents. Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) is the predominant form of brain injury and the most common cause of cerebral palsy in premature infants. PVL is characterized by predominant white matter injury. No specific therapy for PVL is prese...

The Vulnerable Brain and Very Preterm Infants

Preterm birth is a risk for normal brain development. Brain maturation that normally happens in the uterus is in very preterm infants a developmental challenge during their stay in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Typical brain injuries of preterm infants include ischemic injuries, brain haemorrhages, ventricular dilatation (VD), and reduced brain volumes. Brain injury is a serious compli...

How vulnerable is the developing testis to the external environment?

Cerebellum of the premature infant: rapidly developing, vulnerable, clinically important.

Brain abnormality in surviving premature infants is associated with an enormous amount of neurodevelopmental disability, manifested principally by cognitive, behavioral, attentional, and socialization deficits, most commonly with only relatively modest motor deficits. The most recognized contributing neuropathology is cerebral white matter injury. The thesis of this review is that acquired cere...