Mechanisms of Hypoxic–Ischemic
Injury in the Term Infant
Claire McLean, MD, and Donna Ferriero, MD
The pathogenesis of hypoxic–ischemic brain injury in the term infant is multifactorial and
complex. Over the past decade the investigative emphasis has turned to cellular and
molecular mechanisms of injury, and it has been increasingly recognized that the neonatal
brain differs vastly from the adult brain in terms of response to hypoxia–ischemia. This
review will discuss the initiation and evolution of brain injury in the term neonate, and the
inherent biochemical and physiologic qualities of the neonatal brain that make its response
to hypoxia–ischemia unique. Attention will be given to specific areas of investigation
including excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, and inflammation. The coalescence of these
entities to a final common pathway of hypoxic–ischemic brain injury will be emphasized.
Semin Perinatol 28:425-432 © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
A
lthough there are multiple etiologies for neonatal encephalopathy (NE) in the newborn period, hypoxia–
ischemia (HI) predominates as the major cause of subsequent
neurologic disability.1 Increased understanding in the past
three decades of the pathogenesis of neonatal encephalopathy indicate that it is much more complex than originally
thought. It is clear that avoidance or early recognition and
intervention for intrapartum “fetal distress” will not eradicate
the problem.2 Further, it is becoming more evident that hypoxia–ischemia (HI) is the final common endpoint for a complex convergence of events, some genetically determined and
some triggered by an in utero (but not necessarily intrapartum) stressor.
The knowledge that HI is a process that evolves over hours
to days provides a “window of opportunity” for intervention.
However, numerous clinical and laboratory observations
have demonstrated that the response of the neonatal brain is
vastly different than that of the adult brain. Although the
potential for effective therapies is perhaps greater in the immature organism due to plasticity, so is the potential for
harm. Molecules that play important roles in HI (for example,
iron, glutamate, calcium, and nitric oxide) are often mediators of crucial developmental processes. The final pattern that
HI assumes, both radiographically and neurodevelopmentally, depends on the gestational age at which the insult occurs. The concept of “selective vulnerability” of different
Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University of California,
Neonatal Brain Disorders Center, San Francisco, CA.
Address reprint requests to: Dr. Donna Ferriero, Neonatal Brain Disorders
Center, 521 Parnassus Avenue, Room C215, San Francisco, CA 941430663. E-mail: dmf@itsa.ucsf.edu
0146-0005/04/$-see front matter © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1053/j.semperi.2004.10.005
brain structures and neural cells at different stages of development determines the immature brain’s response to hypoxia–
ischemia. This review will discuss the various components of
cellular/molecular response including excitotoxicity, oxidative injury, and inflammation as they relate to newborn brain
injury.
The Neonatal Brain Is Different
The fact that the newborn brain is very different from the
adult brain has been frequently overlooked. Perhaps the aspect of the immature brain that has traditionally received the
most controversial attention is the blood brain barrier (BBB).
The common belief that the neonate, especially preterm but
term as well, has a less effective BBB is evident in the medical
approach to indirect hyperbilirubinemia, systemic infection,
and administration of medication. However, “less effective”
may be inaccurate. Studies of the BBB in the immature organism are often limited by paradigms using huge volumes
and/or osmotic loads; this in addition to the fact that immature blood vessels are indeed weaker leads to these erroneous
conclusions. The fetal BBB possesses mechanisms not found
in the adult, and the high protein concentration seen in fetal
and newborn cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is not necessarily
evidence of barrier immaturity.3 There is a mechanism in
choroid plexus endothelial cells that promotes passage of
proteins into the CSF that declines in effectiveness as the
brain matures.3 This protein permeability is by no means
indiscriminate; proteins of different species are recognized
and excluded. The purpose of this mechanism is not fully
understood but it clearly serves a critical developmental pur425
C. McLean and D. Ferriero
426
pose. Tight junctions, the foundation of the blood brain barrier, are present as soon as embryonic vessels invade the brain
and go through progressive changes during development
that may correlate with a decline in passive permeability.4-6
Sequential development of different ion gradients between
CSF and plasma also occurs over the course of fetal development, and the rate of transport of heavy metals (specifically
iron) and amino acids into CSF changes during development
and is highly regulated and specific.3
Cerebrovascular autoregulation is another factor in HI,
particularly in the preterm infant. The concept that preterm
infants have a “pressure passive” cerebral circulation is
widely accepted. However, sick term infants have also demonstrated impaired cerebrovascular autoregulation.7 Physiologically increased expression of inducible and neuronal isoforms of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS and nNOS) in the
newborn period may narrow the autoregulatory window,8
making newborns more susceptible to brain injury with fluctuations in systemic pressure. In response to high circulating
levels of prostaglandins in the newborn period, prostaglandin receptors are down-regulated. This may blunt prostaglandin-mediated vasoconstrictive response to systemic hypertension, leading to pathologically increased cerebral
blood flow.9 The range of systemic blood pressure over which
cerebrovascular autoregulation is functional expands with
increasing maturity.10,11 Newborn rabbits have a very narrow
window and are more susceptible to hyper- or hypotensive
injury.11 Severely encephalopathic human newborns with
evidence of cerebral damage on amplitude-integrated EEG
display impaired autoregulation.12 Taken together, this evidence suggests that the neonatal brain is more vulnerable to
large fluctuations in systemic pressure. Once an ischemic
insult has occurred the neonate may be even more likely than
an adult to sustain further damage in the acute recovery
phase, as an encephalopathic infant is at risk for both systemic hypotension and hypertension.
Glucose transport and metabolism in the immature brain
are processes that also display differences from the adult.
During periods of rapid brain growth, particularly the perinatal period, metabolic need increases.13 The pattern of injury after HI can be explained, in part, on the basis of this
metabolic demand, as areas of high oxygen and glucose utilization correspond to areas of subcortical white matter injury.14 After HI in rats, glucose transport from plasma and
into neurons increases and is compensatory.15,16 Normal
brain development is associated with a switch in energy substrate from both glucose and ketones in the immature organism to an absolute requirement for glucose in the adult. These
findings illustrate the importance of understanding the utilization of glucose, lactate, and ketones in the newborn brain
under both normal and pathologic conditions.
Evidence of susceptibility to cell death programs in the
newborn period is an important concept for understanding
HI.17 Multiple studies have suggested a more prominent role
for neuronal apoptosis after HI in the neonate than in the
adult, where necrosis seems to be more primary.18-20 Immature neurons in vitro are also more susceptible to apoptotic
death than mature neurons.21 Perhaps apoptotic neuronal
death is more prominent in the neonate because of the physiologic role of apoptosis in normal brain development.
Caspase-3, an executor of apoptosis, is expressed at much
higher constitutive levels in immature versus mature brain.20
The basis for the evolution of injury after neonatal HI may be
an apoptotic–necrotic continuum, with some cells exhibiting
evidence of both.22 This prolonged evolution of injury in the
neonate presents an opportunity for therapeutic intervention.23
Excitotoxicity
and Energy Failure
Excitotoxicity as a mechanism for neuronal injury after hypoxic–ischemic insult has received a great deal of attention
during the last decade, and much has been elucidated regarding this process in the immature brain. Most of what we know
comes from animal studies (mainly rodent) but studies in the
human neonate have provided some corroboration. Neuronal glutamate metabolism has recently been shown by magnetic resonance spectroscopy to be tightly coupled to cerebral glucose oxidation,24,25 indicating that the cycle of
glutamate release, reuptake, and resynthesis is a major metabolic pathway in the brain.26 When glutamate is released
from presynaptic vesicles into the synapse, it can stimulate
postsynaptic receptors (NMDA, AMPA, or kainate). Removal
of glutamate from the synapse is dependent on glutamate
transporters present mainly on glial cells. The glia convert
glutamate to glutamine, glutamine is transported out of the
glia and into neurons, and the neurons convert glutamine
back to glutamate26 (Fig. 1). This process requires intact cellular energy machinery and function, and can be disrupted
by any process that causes energy failure27-29 including glucose deprivation or HI.30 Since the fetus is adapted to a low
oxygen tension and has a low cerebral basal energy consumption compared with the mature organism, this could explain
the more delayed energy failure that occurs in immature
brain.
The NMDA receptor is of primary importance in excitatory
neurotransmission. The structure and function of this receptor vary between species, brain region, and stage of development.31 Structurally it is composed of four heteromeric subunits, the combinations of which create different functional
states.32 The receptor possesses multiple functional sites
within it that recognize glutamate, coagonists, modulatory
molecules such as glycine, dissociative anesthetics (PCP, ketamine), redox agents, steroids, histamine, zinc, magnesium
(which blocks permeability to calcium), and a cation-selective ion channel which admits Na⫹, K⫹, and Ca2⫹. When the
neurotransmitter recognition site is activated by glutamate,
the ion channel allows influx of calcium and sodium. The
increase in intracellular calcium that results is the stimulus
for a multitude of downstream events, including regulation
of transcription factors, cell cycle regulation, and DNA replication.33 The NMDA receptor is relatively over-expressed
in the developing brain compared with the adult brain34
(Fig. 2). In postnatal day 6 to 14 rats (which approximates
Hypoxic–ischemic injury in the term infant
Figure 1 The glutaminergic synapse. (A) Glutamate is released by
presynaptic neurons via a synaptosomal mechanism on excitation.
Synaptically, glutamate acts at postsynaptic receptors until removed
by energy-requiring astrocytic pumps. The astrocyte converts glutamate to glutamine which can be taken up by the presynaptic
neuron and converted back to glutamate. (B) The astrocyte requires
ATP and glucose to perform these functions. During HI, the mechanism of glutamate reuptake and recycling is impaired, glutamate
remains in the synapse, resulting in excitotoxicity. Reprinted with
permission.26 (Color version of figure is available online.)
the term human neonate), the NMDA receptor is expressed at
150 to 200% of adult levels.35,36 In humans, receptor expression follows a bell-shaped curve that peaks at 23 to 27 weeks
gestation and is significantly higher at term than in the
adult.37 In the fetal guinea pig, the affinity of the receptor for
glutamate peaks in the perinatal period.38 The particular
combination of subunits determine the NMDA receptor’s
functional state, and the predominating combination in the
perinatal period seems to favor a more prolonged and pronounced calcium influx for a given excitation.39 From a developmental perspective, this enhancement of the excitatory
neurotransmitter network corresponds with a surge in brain
growth and differentiation and highlights the role of glutamate and NMDA receptors in early learning40,41 and “physiologic neuronal death” or morphologic “sculpting.”42
The higher density and activity of glutamate receptors in
the perinatal period creates a potential for a more devastating
effect when energy failure does occur. The same NMDA receptor activation which allows for plasticity and synaptogenesis can, in the setting of HI, lead to massive Na⫹ and water
influx, cellular swelling and necrosis, pathologically elevated
intracellular calcium and its associated mitochondrial dysfunction, energy failure, and apoptosis. As neurons die, degradative enzymes are released, leading to a “spiral of death”27
potentiated further by inhibition or even reversal of glutamate reuptake by glia. Since glycolytic metabolism provides
the ATP that powers the glial glutamate transporter,24 depri-
427
vation of glucose (which occurs in ischemia) will lead to high
synaptic glutamate levels. HI in rat hippocampal neurons
leads to marked reduction in the activity of the pumps which
remove glutamate from the synapse,43 and the presynaptic
glial glutamate transporter in immature rats subjected to unilateral carotid artery ligation and hypoxia is severely affected.44 To strengthen the theory that the immature brain is
uniquely susceptible to excitotoxicity, it has been shown that
injection of NMDA into rat brain produces more extensive
cell death in the neonate than in the adult.45 HI in the rat
follows the same age-dependent pattern (peak at postnatal
day 6 with a decline toward adulthood).46 Furthermore,
changes in NMDA receptor expression during early development could explain the different patterns of injury seen in the
preterm versus term infant. A rodent model using intracerebral injection of glutamate receptor agonist had selective
white matter injury at P7 and severe cortical infarction with
no white matter selectivity at P10. The fact that both HI and
direct injection of excitotoxin selectively damage postsynaptic neurons (namely those with NMDA receptors)47 and create a setting in which energy failure decreases reuptake of
EAAs by glia27-29 highlight the importance of excitotoxicity in
hypoxic–ischemic brain injury. This hypothesis is further
strengthened by animal studies using unilateral carotid artery
ligation and hypoxia that have shown near complete protection by the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801.48
Adenosine receptors are expressed on excitatory neurons,
and the involvement of this system in excitotoxicity and subsequent brain injury is becoming increasingly clear. The nucleoside adenosine, present in all tissues including the brain,
is coreleased (in the form of ATP) with glutamate into the
synaptic cleft on neuronal depolarization.49 Levels of adenosine can increase exponentially during ischemia,50 resulting
in increased adenosine receptor activation. Recent evidence
NMDA receptor
nNOS
P0
P5
P10
P15
P20
P25
P30 adult
Figure 2 Graphic depiction of NMDA receptor (adapted from reference 39) and nNOS maturation (adapted from reference 89) in rat
brain. NMDA receptor expression and function and nNOS expression peak at approximately postnatal day 6 to 7, a developmental
age that corresponds to the term human (adapted from references
89 and 113).
428
indicates that this receptor activation may inhibit axonal
growth and white matter formation.51
From a clinical perspective, elevated glutamate has been
documented (by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy)
in the CSF of infants who have suffered severe HI injury.52 In
fact, CSF levels of excitatory amino acids are directly proportional to the severity of NE.53,54 NE in term neonates is characterized by excessive neuronal excitation that manifests as
seizures and a burst-suppression EEG pattern.55 The neonatal brain is much more prone to seizure activity than the
mature brain,56 and seizures in asphyxiated term infants can
be atypical in appearance, difficult to diagnose, and quite
resistant to traditional therapeutic measures.57-59 This suggests an age-specific mechanism for seizures that is not targeted by interventions that show efficacy in older patients
(phenobarbital, lorazepam, phenytoin).
Morphologically, MRI has allowed for classification of different types of hypoxic injury in term infants.60,61 The fact
that seizures are common to all of them suggests a prominent
role for neuronal hyperexcitability and excitotoxicity. Further, the pattern of excitatory neuronal circuitry can be used
to explain the pattern of injury after severe HI in which injury
to the excitatory regions of the brain (putamen, thalamus,
and perirolandic cerebral cortex) is foremost.17,62 Although
white matter damage has been thought of as predominantly a
preterm injury, myelination is a process which is not complete at term and therefore the term infant is also vulnerable.
Imaging and postmortem data from infants who sustained an
HI insult between 35 and 42 weeks show extensive damage
to the corpus callosum and internal capsule as well as the
basal ganglia and thalamus.63 In human infants, myelination
of the posterior limb of the internal capsule and the central
part of the corona radiata appears from MRI evaluation to
occur between 34 and 46 weeks.64 Therefore the developing
oligodendrocyte is clearly a target in term HI. The immature
oligodendrocyte (O4⫹/galactoceramide⫺) is uniquely susceptible to hypoxia–ischemia.65 A “feedback loop” mechanism has been invoked whereby glutamate released from
oligodendrocytes could stimulate receptors on the same cell,
leading to calcium influx and cell death.65
Oxidative Stress
and Energy Failure
The concepts of excitotoxicity and oxidative stress are inextricably linked, and many of the nuances of this complex
relationship are still being clarified. Oxidative stress is a general term for the increase in free radical production as a result
of oxidative metabolism under pathologic conditions. At a
physiologic level in a cell with normally functioning mitochondria, more than 80% of oxygen in the cell is reduced to
energy equivalents (ATP) by cytochrome oxidase. The rest is
converted to superoxide anions that will, in a normally functioning cell, be reduced to water by enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant mechanisms. On a simplistic level, any
damage to the energy-producing machinery of the mitochondria will result in an accumulation of superoxide, and any
C. McLean and D. Ferriero
process that results in depletion of antioxidant defenses will
result in the default conversion of superoxide to even more
reactive species such as the hydroxyl radical.66 The concept
of ischemia/reperfusion whereby glucose and oxygen deprivation lead to primary cell death and reperfusion and reoxygenation lead to secondary cell loss67 is fundamental to the
understanding of oxidative stress. When oxygen floods the
microenvironment of cells that have been damaged by hypoxia, mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation is overwhelmed and reactive oxygen species accumulate.66 Antioxidant defenses are depleted and free radicals damage the cell
by peroxidation of lipid membranes, alteration of membrane
potentials, activation of pro-apoptotic mediators, and direct
DNA and protein damage. Excitotoxicity causes energy depletion, mitochondrial dysfunction, and cytosolic calcium
accumulation, leading to the generation of free radicals such
as superoxide, nitric oxide derivatives, and the highly reactive hydroxyl radical. Free radicals in turn alter membrane
and pump function, allowing for more glutamate release and
NMDA receptor activation and leading to more excitotoxicity.
Because of its high lipid (specifically, polyunsaturated fatty
acid) content, the brain is particularly susceptible to free
radical attack and lipid peroxidation.33 This heightened vulnerability is magnified in the term newborn brain for several
reasons. First, the polyunsaturated fatty acid content of the
brain increases during gestation.68 There is a basal level of
lipid peroxidation under normal conditions that is higher in
term than preterm brain.69 Lipid peroxidation leads to the
activation of phospholipases that increase free radical production. Under hypoxic conditions, free radical accumulation in brain occurs,70 and hypoxic tissue undergoes peroxidation much faster than normoxic tissue.69 Second, the
immature brain has immature antioxidant defenses. Specifically, the antioxidant enzyme systems superoxide dismutase,
catalase, and glutathione peroxidase display less activity in
the immature than the mature rat brain.71 Third, the newborn brain is rich in free iron relative to the adult brain.66
Developmentally this is advantageous because iron is a cofactor in many enzymatic reactions that correspond to neuronal
growth and differentiation. However, free iron can catalyze
the production of various reactive oxygen species. Increased
free iron is detectable in the plasma72 and CSF of asphyxiated
newborns.73 In the rat, brain regions with high iron content
are more vulnerable to injury74 and deferoxamine, an iron
chelator, is protective against HI in animal models.75,76
The damaging potential of abundant iron and immaturity
of the enzymatic oxidant defenses of the immature brain are
tightly interrelated. Copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD-1)
is the cytosolic enzyme responsible for conversion of superoxide to hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is further
reduced to water by glutathione peroxidase or catalase, or
alternatively it can be converted to the hydroxyl radical in the
presence of ferrous iron (Fig. 3). Enhanced glutathione peroxidase is protective when immature neurons in vitro are
exposed to hydrogen peroxide.77 Therefore, an imbalance of
enzymatic maturity can be invoked to explain the maturational differences; lack of sufficient glutathione peroxidase
Hypoxic–ischemic injury in the term infant
429
Detoxification of Reactive Oxygen Species
superoxide
dismutase
2O2. + 2H+
glutathione
peroxidase
H2O2 + O2
Fe++
H2O
Reduced
glutathione
oxidized
glutathione
Fe+++
OH.
Figure 3 Illustration of the reduction of superoxide (OH.) to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by superoxide dismutase and the further reduction of hydrogen peroxide to water by glutathione peroxidase.
In the setting of abundant free iron and inadequate glutathione
peroxidase activity (or inadequate reduced glutathione stores), hydrogen peroxide is converted to the extremely reactive hydroxyl
radical (OH.). The immature brain has immature antioxidant enzyme systems, relatively decreased stores of reduced glutathione,
and abundant free iron, making it extremely vulnerable to oxidative
attack.
activity in the immature brain can lead to accumulation of
hydrogen peroxide78 and lipid peroxidation products. Both
free radical scavengers (PBN, a nitrone spin-trap that converts free radicals to stable adducts) and metal chelators (deferoxamine and TPEN) have been shown to protect neurons
from injury mediated by hydrogen peroxide in vitro75,79 and
in vivo.80 These interventions also protected neurons from
NMDA-induced toxicity, strengthening the link between excitotoxicity and oxidative stress.75
Adequate stores of antioxidants themselves are necessary
to protect the CNS from oxidative injury. Specifically, depletion of neuronal reduced glutathione (GSH) has been shown
to exacerbate oxidative injury.81,82 When glutathione peroxidase converts hydrogen peroxide to water, GSH is oxidized.
Conversion back to the reduced form is catalyzed by glutathione reductase at the expense of NADPH, which itself is
supplied by intact oxidative metabolism. Therefore intact mitochondrial machinery is essential for maintenance of an adequate GSH pool, and energy failure secondary to excitotoxicity will expose the cell to free radical damage. Conversely,
when glutathione reductase activity and the pentose phosphate pathway are supported by exogeneous fructose 1,6
bisphosphate (FBP) (which acts endogenously a glycolytic
intermediate), neurons in culture are protected from both
oxygen-glucose deprivation and nitric oxide-mediated injury, even in the setting of GSH depletion.83 FBP also attenuates cortical neuronal loss in vivo after HI in neonatal rat
brain.84
The link between excitotoxicity and free radical injury is
well exemplified in studies of the role of nitric oxide (NO),
another reactive oxygen species, in HI brain injury. NO can
function both physiologically and pathologically. Produced
constitutively in endothelial cells, astrocytes, and neurons in
response to an increase in intracellular calcium, it has a role
in pulmonary, systemic, and cerebral vasodilation, and is
thought to exert a compensatory vascular effect after ischemia during reperfusion. iNOS is produced in macrophages,
endothelial cells, neurons, and astrocytes in response to
stress. Hypoxia induces generation of NO in the cortex of
newborn guinea pigs,85 and NO can modify the glycine-binding site of the NMDA receptor of cortical neurons during
hypoxia, facilitating calcium entry and enhancing excitotoxicity.86 Neurons that express neuronal NOS (nNOS) in the
striatum are selectively resistant to HI injury.87 Neuronal
NOS expression corresponds anatomically to immature
NMDA receptor expression, especially in the basal ganglia88
and disruption of the nNOS gene89 and pharmacologic inhibition of nNOS90 both ameliorate HI injury.
In addition to their participation in oxidative injury and in
the excitotoxic cascade, NO and NOS have been implicated
in the programmed cell death that results from HI injury. It
has been clearly shown that HI injury in the P7 rat is multiphasic, with immediate cytotoxic death that occurs within
hours of the injury followed by death that occurs days to
weeks later.91 This multiphasic quality of injury is supported
by studies in human neonates.92 Inhibition of nNOS in newborn piglets prevents the increase in caspase-3 (the so-called
“death effector”) activity and subsequent DNA fragmentation.93,94 In a separate study of hypoxia in newborn piglets
NOS inhibition can block activation of ERK and JNK,95 two
of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family that
mediates signal transduction from cell surface to nucleus and
thereby regulates programmed cell death.96,97
Inflammation
It has been proposed that cytokines may be the final common
mediators of brain injury that is initiated by hypoxia–ischemia, reperfusion, and infection.98 Cytokines are polypeptides that act either systemically or in a local fashion to guide
the cellular response to inflammation, HI, infection, and a
variety of other stressors. Their cellular targets are myriad
and located throughout the body, including astrocytes, neurons, microglia, and endothelium of the CNS. The cytokines
IL-1beta, TNF␣, IL-6, and IL-8 have been implicated clinically in the pathologic effects of brain inflammation.99,100 In
addition, mediators such as platelet activating factor (PAF),
arachidonic acid, and their metabolites (prostaglandins, leukotrienes, thromboxanes, cyclo-oxygenase) are involved in
the inflammatory response during the evolution of brain injury after ischemia/reperfusion.
Animal models of inflammation have drawn clear lines of
causation between inflammation, excitotoxicity, and brain
injury. For example, Gressens and colleagues performed intracerebral injections of ibotenate (a glutaminergic agonist of
NMDA receptors) in mice to produce a model of excitotoxic
brain injury.101 In P5 mice, this produces a pattern of white
matter injury analogous to the preterm infant, and in P10
mice a pattern of cortical injury analogous to the term infant
C. McLean and D. Ferriero
430
results. Pretreatment with systemically administered IL1beta, IL-6, IL-9, or TNF-alpha leads to a statistically significant increase in the extent of the lesion produced by ibotenate, in a dose-dependent manner.102 This demonstrates that
systemically circulating inflammatory mediators could in fact
potentiate excitotoxic CNS injury, lending credence to the
clinical paradigm of maternal infection leading to “cytokinemia” in the fetus and eventually to brain injury. Further,
intracisternal injection of endotoxin before an HI insult in
neonatal rats leads to potentiation of brain injury, and endotoxin injection is accompanied by increased TNF-alpha immunoreactivity.103
The cellular origin of inflammatory mediators that appear
to exacerbate HI brain injury is still unclear. There is a role for
mediators that are produced systemically (by the mother or
by the fetus itself) and affect the CNS either through vascular
mechanisms or by entry across the BBB and direct action on
brain parenchyma. However, microglia, the resident macrophages of the CNS, are activated by HI and can release glutamate, free radicals, and nitric oxide.104 In fact, microglia are
activated experimentally by ibotenate, an exogeneous excitotoxin.105 Drugs that block resident microglial and blood-derived monocyte activation (such as minocycline or chloroquine) protect the newborn brain from this excitotoxin.106
The wide variability in the effect of HI on the newborn
brain highlights the probability that genetic factors play a
significant role. Rodent models of HI show wide interstrain
variability in the severity of injury after an identical insult.107,108 Possibilities have emerged regarding genetic predisposition to brain injury,109 and once again the perinatal
period is of particular interest and represents one of the most
likely time periods for a genetic modifier to present itself. For
instance, genetic abnormalities causing a hypercoagulable
tendency seem to increase risk for stroke in adults only if they
are present in combination.110 However, the same mutation
in a single gene in the neonate can be associated with increased risk for ischemic stroke.111 Gender differences with
respect to the response to HI have also been observed.112 It is
reasonable to assume that there are a variety of genetic factors
that may achieve their highest potential to manifest during
the perinatal period.
Taken as a whole, the initiation and evolution of brain
injury in the term infant after a hypoxic–ischemic insult is a
vastly complex process, with contributing mechanisms
densely interwoven to create a picture in which it is challenging to find a common thread. Recent investigations have focused on how the different yet related processes of excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, and inflammation come together in the
neonate to produce a picture that is unique from that of the
adult. It is by continuing to focus on this synthesis that we
will arrive at an understanding of how neonatal encephalopathy occurs, and what we can do to prevent it.
Acknowledgment
This work is supported in part by Grants T32 HD 07162 and
NS33997.
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