Anabolic Steroids Blog - iSteroids . com » Risk for respiratory infections enhanced by oxygen-rich lifesaving efforts

Risk for respiratory infections enhanced by oxygen-rich lifesaving efforts Every year, many thousands of premature infants fight a battle to breathe. Thanks to lifesaving interventions like steroids administered to mothers for stalling preterm labor, air enriched with extra oxygen, and even mechanical ventilation - most of these infants survive with enough lung function to grow and get discharged from the medical center.

However, a new research probing into one such intervention - air enriched with extra oxygen - revealed that breathing oxygen-enriched air in the early weeks can actually wrap signaling pathways, which can rev up the body for fighting against respiratory infections such as flu, according to University of Rochester Medical Center researcher Michael O’Reilly, Ph.D.

From News-Medical.Net:

Children with such lungs wheeze, have difficulty running or rising to aerobic challenges, and are at greater risk for asthma; but that’s just the start.

It also seems that these changes last a lifetime, said O’Reilly: These children are more easily sidelined by routine infections and respiratory diseases, like flu, and in many cases, need more frequent hospitalization, especially in the preschool years.

To begin to understand why, O’Reilly and colleagues studied two groups of full-term mice - the only distinction being that, for the first four days of life, one set breathed 100-percent oxygen, and the other breathed normal room air. After they had grown to adulthood (eight weeks), both groups were exposed to influenza A virus, and their susceptibility to infection, immune response, and lung structure was analyzed.

“We realized, as we expected, that mice born in pure oxygen had simplified alveoli, making it harder for them to take in oxygen,” O’Reilly said. “Imagine that normal lung alveoli look like a cluster of grapes. Compared to that, these mice’s lungs looked like bunches of plums, kiwis, even oranges.”

The team also found that such mice had a more difficult time fighting off infection. Though both groups lost significant weight while battling the virus, mice born in pure oxygen took four days longer to regain their healthy weight. They also were more likely to die of the infection - 15 of 18 room-air mice lived, compared to nine of 21 beginning life in pure oxygen.

O’Reilly admits that there is more research to be undertaken in this aspect but he hopes that there is some way to enhance lung functioning in the first generation of survivors.

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