Lung disease and brain development.

With the technical progress made in fetal and neonatal intensive care, perinatal mortality has decreased by 25% over the last decade and has expanded the surviving premature population. Prematurity drastically changes the environment of the developing organism. Striking evidence from a number of disciplines has focused attention on the interplay between the developing organism and the circumstances in which it finds itself. The environmental event during a sensitive period in development, induces injury and/or biological adaptations that lead to altered differentiation of tissues. The organism can express specific adaptive responses to its environment which include short-term changes in physiology as well as long-term adjustments. This review addresses these short-term as well as longer-term changes occurring in lung and brain tissue and illustrates how these changes can be studied using advanced imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel.