Chorioamnionitis-exposure alters serum cytokine trends in premature neonates.

Objectives: Determine if chronologic age and/or chorioamnionitis exposure alter normal serum cytokine and chemokine levels in uninfected preterm neonates during their initial NICU stay.

Study Design: A 7-plex immunoassay measured levels of serum IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α, CCL2, and CCL3 longitudinally from chorioamnionitis-exposed and unexposed preterm neonates under 33 weeks' gestation.

Results: Chorioamnionitis-exposed and unexposed preterm neonates demonstrated differences in the trends of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α, and CCL2 over the first month of life.

New Pharmacologic Approaches to Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia.

Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia is the most common long-term respiratory morbidity of preterm infants, with the risk of development proportional to the degree of prematurity. While its pathophysiologic and histologic features have changed over time as neonatal demographics and respiratory therapies have evolved, it is now thought to be characterized by impaired distal lung growth and abnormal pulmonary microvascular development. Though the exact sequence of events leading to the development of BPD has not been fully elucidated and likely varies among patients, it is thought to result from inflammatory and mechanical/oxidative injury from chronic ventilatory support in fragile, premature lungs susceptible to injury from surfactant deficiency, structural abnormalities, inadequate antioxidant defenses, and a chest wall that is more compliant than the lung.