engleski

Chemical neuroanatomy of periventricular crossroads of growing cortical pathways in preterm infants

Periventricular white matter (WM) areas are widely recognized as predilection sites for complex cellular damage after ischemia/reperfusion or inflammatory injury of the perinatal cerebrum. We analyzed histochemical properties of fibrillar network, the presence of axonal guidance molecules and extracellular matrix (ECM) in periventricular areas on postmortem specimens aged 15 to 36 postovulatory weeks (POW). The fiberarchitectonics of the fetal cerebrum displays tangential axon strata in frontopolar and occipitopolar regions, whereas the central periventricular region contains crossroads of intersecting callosal (transverse), associative (sagittal), and thalamocortical/corticofugal (radial) fiber bundles. In late fetuses/early preterms, crossroads contain an abundant hydrophylic ECM rich in chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans and axonal guidance molecules. After 28 POW, tangential fetal fiberarchitectonic stratification transformed into the corona radiata system. However, the growth of cortical pathways continued in crossroad areas, as indicated by the presence of ECM. We demonstrated the presence of periventricular fiber crossroads rich in ECM and axonal guidance molecules in fetuses and preterm infants. We propose that these periventricular crossroad areas are important sites of interaction and directed growth of cortical projection, commissural and associative pathways. In addition, periventricular WM crossroads represent a hitherto unrecognized and vulnerable cellular and topographical target which may explain the complexity of cognitive, sensory and motor deficit in survivors of periventricular WM lesions.

prenatal brain development

nije evidentirano