Perinatal complications in both term- and preterm-born infants are a leading cause of neonatal morbidities and mortality. Infants face different challenges in the neonatal intensive care unit with long-term morbidities such as perinatal brain injury and bronchopulmonary dysplasia being particularly devastating. While advances in perinatal medicine have improved our understanding of the pathogenesis, effective therapies to prevent and/or reduce the severity of these disorders are still lacking. The potential of mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (MSC) therapy has emerged during the last two decades, and an increasing effort is conducted to address brain- and lung-related morbidities in neonates at risk. Various studies support the notion that MSCs have protective effects. MSCs are an easy source and may be readily available after birth in a clinical setting. MSCs’ mechanisms of action are diverse, including migration and homing, release of growth factors and immunomodulation, and the potential to replace injured cells. Here, we review the pathophysiology of perinatally acquired brain and lung injuries and focus on MSCs as potential candidates for therapeutic strategies summarizing preclinical and clinical evidence.

中文翻译：

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间充质干/基质细胞——围产期发病后再生的关键介质？

足月和早产儿的围产期并发症是新生儿发病率和死亡率的主要原因。婴儿在新生儿重症监护室面临着不同的挑战，围产期脑损伤和支气管肺发育不良等长期发病率尤其具有破坏性。虽然围产期医学的进步提高了我们对发病机制的理解，但仍然缺乏预防和/或减轻这些疾病严重程度的有效疗法。间充质干/基质细胞 (MSC) 疗法的潜力在过去二十年中已经出现，并且越来越多地努力解决有风险的新生儿的脑和肺相关疾病。各种研究支持 MSC 具有保护作用的观点。MSCs 是一种简单的来源，出生后在临床环境中很容易获得。MSC 的作用机制多种多样，包括迁移和归巢、生长因子的释放和免疫调节，以及替代受损细胞的潜力。在这里，我们回顾了围产期获得性脑和肺损伤的病理生理学，并重点关注 MSC 作为总结临床前和临床证据的治疗策略的潜在候选者。