Lack of oxygen delays brain maturation in preterm infant

Premature infants are at risk of a broad spectrum of life-long cognitive and learning disabilities, these conditions were believed to be the result of lack of blood flow to the brain. Reserchers analyzed the response of fetal subplate neurons - cells that play a critical role in regulating preterm brain function and connectivity to disturbances of brain oxygenation.

When the developing brain was exposed to lower than normal rates of oxygen for as short as twenty minutes, subplate neurons showed major long-term disturbances just one month following exposure.

The brief exposure to low oxygen occurs frequently in preterm babies receiving care in a neonatal intensive care unit and this result explains the long-term complications that these preterm babies sustain as they grow older, which include significant challenges with learning, memory and attention.

Clinicians must be careful how they interact with, stimulate and handle preterm babies during intensive care treatment. This will lead to better management transient low- oxygen states and determine what the preterm brain can and cannot tolerate.
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