Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Toti, P
• DE Felice, C
• Schürfeld, K
• Stumpo, M
• Bartolommei, S
• Lombardi, A
• Petraglia, E
• Buonocore, G

Titel

Cyclooxygenase-2 immunoreactivity in the ischemic neonatal human brain. An autopsy study

Ist Teil von

• Journal of submicroscopic cytology and pathology, 2001-07, Vol.33 (3), p.245

Ort / Verlag

Italy

Erscheinungsjahr

2001

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is known to be expressed in rat brain and up-regulated by ischemia. The administration of COX inhibitors before as well as soon after the ischemic insult reduces the extension of cerebral damage in rats. Overexpression of COX-2 has also been shown in the ischemic brain of adult human patients, while no information concerning COX-2 expression in neonatal ischemia is available. Intrapartum asphyxia and perinatal brain injury may result in cerebral palsy, mental retardation or epilepsy. COX-2 expression in the brain of neonates delivered after severe birth asphyxia was investigated using immunohistochemistry. Meningeal vessel walls of term and preterm babies widely expressed COX-2 immunoreactivity, as did periventricular large vessels in preterms. A number of brain cells (mature and immature cortical, periventricular and basal ganglia neurons, and oligodendrocytes of the cerebral white matter in brains from term neonates) also expressed COX-2. The present findings suggest that COX-2 may take part in enhancing neonatal brain damage via different mechanisms, such as those involving excitotoxicity and production of reactive oxygen species.