This Article Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Babcock, M. A. Articles by Maria, B. L. PubMed Articles by Babcock, M. A. Articles by Maria, B. L. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Injury to the Preterm Brain and Cerebral Palsy: Clinical Aspects, Molecular Mechanisms, Unanswered Questions, and Future Research Directions

College of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina

Felina V. Kostova, BS

College of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina

Donna M. Ferriero, MD

University of California, San Francisco Children's Hospital, San Francisco, California

Michael V. Johnston, MD

Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Maryland

Jan E. Brunstrom, MD

St. Louis Children's Hospital, St Louis, Missouri

Henrik Hagberg, MD, PhD

Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden

Bernard L. Maria, MD, MBA

Departments of Pediatrics and Neurosciences, Charles P. Darby Children's Research Institute, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, bmaria{at}mcg.edu

Cerebral palsy will affect nearly 10% of the 60 000 very low-birth-weight infants born in the United States in the next year, and an even greater percentage will display some form of permanent neurological impairment resulting from injury to the preterm brain. The 2008 Neurobiology of Disease in Children Symposium, held in conjunction with the 37th annual meeting of the Child Neurology Society, aimed to define current knowledge and to develop specific aims for future clinical, translational, and fundamental science. A complex interplay of both destructive and developmental forces is responsible for injury to the preterm brain. Advances in imaging and histology have implicated a variety of cell types, though preoligodendrocyte injury remains the focus. Research into different mechanisms of injury is facilitating new neuroprotective and rehabilitative interventions. A cooperative effort is necessary to translate basic research findings into clinically effective therapies and better care for these children.

Key Words: cerebral palsy • molecular mechanisms • translational research

Journal of Child Neurology, Vol. 24, No. 9, 1064-1084 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0883073809338957


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?