Birth Oxidative Stress and the Development of Antioxidant System in Newborns

Oxidative stress is considered to be an imbalance between oxidation and anti- oxidation and the tendencytowards theoxidative state. Many studieshave demonstrated that environmental changes(i.e. oxygen concentration) and other stresses induce a significant increase in generation of reactive oxygen species(ROS) in infants during birth process and disturb the oxidative balance. The antioxidant system of newborns is weak and insufficient to scavenge the excessive ROS, leading to birth oxidative injury. This review focuses on birth oxidative stress and development of the antioxidant system in newborns to provide corresponding reference for further research in this field.