Giving pure oxygen to infants adds to brain damage

Brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation, known as hypoxic-ischemic brain injury, is one of the most common causes of death and long-term neurological damage among infants and children.

This can happen during birth trauma, near drowning and other crises.      
The researchers at the University of Texas found that mice treated with less than a minute of 100 percent oxygen after a hypoxic-ischemic brain injury suffered far greater rates of brain-cell death and coordination problems similar to cerebral palsy than those allowed to recover with room air.     

The study suggests that 100 per cent oxygen resuscitation may further damage an already compromised Brain, said Dr Steven Kernie, associate professor of pediatrics and developmental biology and senior author of the study.       

Most of the damage involved cells that create myelin, a fatty substance that insulates nerve cells and allows them to transmit electrical signals quickly and efficiently.

Infants have much less myelin than adults; as myelin develops in children they become more coordinated.     

Areas of the brain with dense areas of myelin appear white, hence the term "white matter." 

"Patients with white-matter injuries develop defects that often result in cerebral palsy and motor deficits," Kernie said.        

Myelin comes from cells called glial cells, or glia, which reach out and wrap part of their fatty membranes around the extensions of nerve cells that pass electrical signals.