Steroids and antioxidants: A neonatal cocktail for saving your adult heart?

摘要

The paper by Niu et al. (2013) in this issue of The Journal of Physiology demonstrates that neonatal rat pups exposed to a standard course of post-natal steroids go on to develop impaired cardiac function in adult life. The authors also make the striking observation that this impairment can be ameliorated when steroids are given in conjunction with anti-oxidants.Crucially this study reminds us of something we all intellectually understand: no clinical treatment is without risk. When assessing treatment risks in newborn babies we often neglect the fact that many risks may occur much later in life.