Contribution of disturbed blood flow and cerebral metabolism to white matter damage in the perinatal brain

Funded Activity Summary

It has been known for some time that the white matter regions of the developing brain are particularly vulnerable to damage. These regions are deep in the brain near the ventricles, and are rich in myelin sheaths wrapped around the nerve fibres running from cell-rich areas in the outer layers of the brain to other regions, and down into the spinal cord. Damage to white matter usually leads to behavioural, learning and motor problems in the newborn infant - in its severest form, seen as cerebral palsy. Such outcomes are often associated with the presence of asphyxia and infection during pregnancy, leading to the belief that the damage first arises while the baby is still in utero. In this application we suggest that asphyxia and-or infection during pregnancy cause prolonged disturbances in the regulation of blood flow and integrity of the blood-brain barrier in the developing brain, together with changes in metabolism that result in accumulation of prostaglandins and the toxic hydroxyl radical, leading irreversibly to cell death. If this series of events proves to be true, we have suggested and will test several protocols for protecting the fetal brain, which should be readily translatable to clinical practice.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2005

End Date: 01-01-2007

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $369,375.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Foetal Development and Medicine

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Brain damage | Cerebral blood flow | Cerebral palsy | Cyclooxygenase and prostaglandins | Fetal asphyxia | Ischaemia/Reperfusion injury | Oxidative stress | Perinatal asphyxia | Perinatal brain damage

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