Abstract
The infant who is born prematurely must face multiple hardships, including those
associated with shortened gestation, interrupted development, and dramatic environmental transition. Could Shakespeare have been aware of these adverse circumstances facing the premature infant when he described the prematurely born
Richard II as ‘‘rudely stamped . . . deformed, unfinished, sent before my time
into this breathing world ‘scarce’ made up’’? With incompletely developed antioxidant defenses and having been denied the final trimester’s acquisition of a
number of crucial nutrients, the premature infant leaves behind the relatively
hypoxic intrauterine environment and is forced to adapt to the relatively hyperoxic extrauterine environment. The immature antioxidant defenses coupled with
an oxidant environment and nutritional inadequacies may play a crucial role in
the development of chronic lung disease (CLD) in the preterm neonate.