Despite the high incidence of brain injuries in children, we have yet to fully understand the unique vulnerability of a young brain to an injury and key determinants of long-term recovery. Here we consider how early life stress may influence recovery after an early age brain injury. Studies of early life stress alone reveal persistent structural and functional impairments at adulthood. We consider the interacting pathologies imposed by early life stress and subsequent brain injuries during early brain development as well as at adulthood. This review outlines how early life stress primes the immune cells of the brain and periphery to elicit a heightened response to injury. While the focus of this review is on early age traumatic brain injuries, there is also a consideration of preclinical models of neonatal hypoxia and stroke, as each further speaks to the vulnerability of the brain and reinforces those characteristics that are common across each of these injuries. Lastly, we identify a common mechanistic trend; namely, early life stress worsens outcomes independent of its temporal proximity to a brain injury.

中文翻译：

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发育中大脑的创伤性损伤：与早期生活压力的新关系。


尽管儿童脑损伤的发生率很高，但我们尚未完全了解年轻大脑对损伤的独特脆弱性以及长期恢复的关键决定因素。在这里，我们考虑早期生活压力如何影响早期脑损伤后的恢复。仅对早期生活压力的研究就揭示了成年后持续存在的结构和功能损伤。我们考虑早期大脑发育以及成年期间早期生活压力和随后的脑损伤所造成的相互作用的病理学。这篇综述概述了早期生活压力如何激发大脑和外周的免疫细胞，从而引发对伤害的增强反应。虽然本次综述的重点是早期创伤性脑损伤，但也考虑了新生儿缺氧和中风的临床前模型，因为每种模型都进一步说明了大脑的脆弱性，并强化了每种损伤的共同特征。最后，我们确定了一个共同的机制趋势；也就是说，早年生活的压力会导致结果恶化，而与脑损伤的时间距离无关。