PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Patrick S. McQuillen
AU  - R. Ann Sheldon
AU  - Carla J. Shatz
AU  - Donna M. Ferriero
TI  - Selective Vulnerability of Subplate Neurons after Early Neonatal Hypoxia-Ischemia
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.23-08-03308.2003
DP  - 2003 Apr 15
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 3308--3315
VI  - 23
IP  - 8
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/23/8/3308.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/23/8/3308.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2003 Apr 15; 23
AB  - Neonatal hypoxia-ischemia in the preterm human leads to selective injury to the subcortical developing white matter, which results in periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), a condition associated with abnormal neurodevelopment. Maturation-dependent vulnerability of late oligodendrocyte progenitors is thought to account for the cellular basis of this condition. A high frequency of cognitive and sensory deficits with decreasing gestational age suggests pervasive abnormalities of cortical development. In a neonatal rat model of hypoxic-ischemic injury that produces the characteristic pattern of subcortical injury associated with human PVL, selective subplate neuron death is seen. The premature subplate neuron death occurs after thalamic axons have reached their targets in cortex. Thus, as expected, thalamocortical connections form normally, including patterned connections to somatosensory cortex. However, deficits in motor function still occur, as in babies with PVL. Subplate neuron cell death in PVL provides another mechanism for abnormal neurodevelopment after neonatal hypoxia-ischemia.