Hypoxic preconditioning can reduce injury-induced inflammatory processes in the neonatal rat brain.

•Hypoxic preconditioning (HP) is protective against hypoxic–ischemic (HI) injury in the newborn rat brain.•HP prior to HI reduces reactive astrocyte and the number of activated microglia following HI.•HP alone increases microglial activation.•HP prior to HI does not affect levels of inflammatory cytokines.