Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression promotes angiogenesis and neuronal repair. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of VEGF and its receptors VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 in relation to neurodegeneration, either caused by hyperoxia, a frequent problem in the treatment of preterm infants with respiratory dysfunction, or caused by brain injury, an important complication (e. g. in case of intracerebral haemorrhage) in the early neonatal period of immature newborns.

For this purpose 6 d old Wistar rat pups were either subjected to 80 % oxygen or treated with phorbolester. After 0, 2, 6, 12 and 24 h of exposition animals were sacrificed and brain cortices processed for quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot.

Exposure to hyperoxia induces a statistically significant time-dependent decrease, treatment with phorbolester a statistically significant time-dependent increase in the expression of VEGF and its receptors in the cortices of the newborn rats. These effects are evident on the transcriptional and translational level.