Xiao Mei Shao | PubMed Health

PubMed2003

Immunonutrients and neonates.

UNLABELLED: The gastrointestinal tract is the largest surface area of the body and the primary site for microorganisms, foreign antigens and toxins to gain entry to the host's internal milieu. The use of enteral feedings enriched with immune-enhancing ingredients is attracting considerable interest because there is increasing application of enteral feeding and appreciation of the role of the gut in the development of infection and of multiple organ failure in critically ill patients. CONCLUSION: in this review, we will discuss nutrients, such as glutamine, arginine, omega 3 fatty acids, nucleotides, probiotics, and lactoferrin, and how they might be used as immunonutrients in neonatal clinics.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗

PubMed2002

Huperzine A attenuates cognitive deficits and brain injury in neonatal rats after hypoxia-ischemia.

The protective effects of huperzine A, a novel acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, on hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain injury were investigated in neonatal rats. A unilateral HI brain injury was produced by the ligation of left common carotid artery followed by 1 h hypoxia with 7.7% oxygen in 7-day-old rat pups. After 5 weeks, HI brain injury in rat pups resulted in working memory impairments shown by increased escape latency in a water maze and reduced time spent in the target quadrant. The combination of common carotid artery ligation and exposure to a hypoxic environment caused the damage in the striatum, cortex, and hippocampus in the ipsilateral hemisphere, and the neuronal loss in the CA1 region. Huperzine A was administrated daily at the dose of 0.05 or 0.1 mg/kg i.p. for 5 weeks after HI injury. The significant protection against HI injury on behavior and neuropathology was produced by huperzine A at the dose of 0.1 mg/kg. These findings suggest that huperzine A might be beneficial in the treatment of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy in neonates.

Alkaloids↗