Potential to Prevent, Reverse Disabilities in Children Born Prematurely Found In Study

Physician-scientists are challenging the way pediatric neurologists think about brain injury in the pre-term infant. The scientists are from the Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children's Hospital. In a study published online in the Jan. 16 issue of Science Translational Medicine, the OHSU Doernbecher researchers report for the first time that low blood and oxygen flow to the developing brain does not, as previously thought, cause an irreversible loss of brain cells, but rather disrupts the cells' ability to fully mature. This discovery opens up new avenues for potential therapies to promote regeneration and repair of the premature brain.

"As neurologists, we thought ischemia killed the neurons and that they were irreversibly lost from the brain. But this new data challenges that notion by showing that ischemia, or low blood flow to the brain, can alter the maturation of the neurons without causing the death of these cells. As a result, we can focus greater attention on developing the right interventions, at the right time early in development, to promote neurons to more fully mature and reduce the often serious impact of preterm birth. We now we have a much more hopeful scenario," said Stephen Back, M.D., Ph.D., lead investigator and professor of pediatrics and neurology in the Papé Family Pediatric Research Institute at OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital.

Researchers at OHSU Doernbecher have conducted a number of studies in preterm fetal sheep to define how disturbances in brain blood flow lead to injury in the developing brain. Their findings have led to important advances in the care of critically ill newborn infants.

Source-Eurekalert