Neonatal hypoxia-ischemia (HI) affects 60% of low birth weight infants and up to 40% of preterm births. Cell death and brain injury after HI have been shown to cause long-lasting neurological deficits. Two motor coordination tests on rats that had been exposed to HI on postnatal day 7 (P7) showed that HI in the P7 rat is associated with significant motor coordination impairment. These results call attention to the risks associated with perinatal ischemia and the need for proper treatment to reverse HI-induced deleterious effects.
Perez-Polo, J. R., Rea, H. C. and Infante, S. K. (2015). Locomotor Coordination Assay in Rats. Bio-protocol 5(22): e1655. DOI: 10.21769/BioProtoc.1655.