Publisher's Synopsis
The immature brain is vulnerable to a number of prenatal and early postnatal stresses, such as maternal infection and birth asphyxia, which produce permanent damage and serious neurologic dysfunction in the survivors. The papers in this special issue of "Developmental Neuroscience" represent current clinical and basic science research into the pathophysiology of perinatal brain injury. The neurologic dysfunction that results from perinatal injury depends on developmental stage, as well as the type, severity, and duration of the insult. Basic mechanisms of normal cerebral development thus form the background for the interpretation of subsequent injury. Information obtained from human infants, combined with that from several experimental animal models, highlight the interaction of hypoxia-ischemia, excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, seizures, and inflammation, on the pathophysiology of perinatal brain injury and ultimate neurologic outcome.
