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Abstract :
[en] Cerebral palsy describes a group of disorders of the development of movement and posture, causing activity limitation, that are attributed to nonprogressive disturbances that occurred in the developing fetal or infant brain.
The vulnerability of different brain structures and types of disability associated with CP are influenced by the gestational age at which brain development is altered. Understanding the pathophysiology of CP is crucial for the development of neuroprotective strategies.
In the first trimester of gestation, genetic disorders, infectious and toxic diseases explain the vast majority of lesions. In the preterm newborn, neuroinflammation and anoxo-ischemia induce activation of the microglia and a maturational blockade of oligodendrocytes disrupting the developmental program of white matter. In term infants, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is the consequence of the excitotoxic cascade leading to cortical and/or basal ganglia lesions.
Clinical disabilities are the consequence of these lesions modulated by cerebral plasticity process.
