Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 13, 2026
Early Pathological and Magnetic Resonance Detection of Cerebral Injury Using a Rat Model of Neonatal Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy
Published on: October 28, 2022
Systems approach to the study of brain damage in the very preterm newborn
Alan Leviton1, Pierre Gressens2, Olaf Wolkenhauer3
1Neuroepidemiology Unit, Boston Children's Hospital Boston, MA, USA ; Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA, USA.
Background:
A systems approach to the study of brain damage in very preterm newborns has been lacking.
Methods:
In this perspective piece, we offer encephalopathy of prematurity as an example of the complexity and interrelatedness of brain-damaging molecular processes that can be initiated inflammatory phenomena.
Results:
Using three transcription factors, nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), Notch-1, and nuclear factor erythroid 2 related factor 2 (NRF2), we show the inter-connectedness of signaling pathways activated by some antecedents of encephalopathy of prematurity.
Conclusions:
We hope that as biomarkers of exposures and processes leading to brain damage in the most immature newborns become more readily available, those who apply a systems approach to the study of neuroscience can be persuaded to study the pathogenesis of brain disorders in the very preterm newborn.
