Neural Dysfunction and Neural Regeneration, a New Window into the Neonatal Hypoxic-ischemic Brain Damage

Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic(H/I) brain damage is a serious complication of intrauterine asphyxia during perinatal period, eventually leading to severe long-term neurodevelopmental disability or even death. Survival babies would experience cerebral palsy, epilepsy, mental retardation, cognitive, sensory and motor dysfunctions. However, there has no proven effective treatment available to protect the brain against injury after H/I occurs, because the exact timing of the hypoxic-ischemic event is unknown and we hardly identify the phase of injury or recovery in an individual patient precisely. In recent years, much effort has been made on the understandings of the H/I damages in the brain and underlying mechanisms of neural dysfunction, expecting the intervention of targeted neuroprotection in the newborn stage. We briefly summarize recent findings of the pathogenesis of hypoxic-ischemic injury with an emphasis on the disturbed neurogenesis process in the brain; the potential role of neural regeneration in basic and clinical research, including the endogenous stem cells mobilization and cell transplantation aiming to enhance the brain function.