The Equine Neonatal Central Nervous System: Development and Diseases.

Neonatal encephalopathy is the most common neurologic condition affecting newborn foals and shares similarities with perinatal asphyxia syndrome of human infants. However, in many cases of neonatal encephalopathy there is no obvious episode of acute or chronic hypoxia and other mechanisms likely play a role in the pathogenesis. Increased concentrations of neuroactive progestagens are found in affected foals; whether these molecules are protective, as has been suggested, or play a role in the pathogenesis is unknown. Neurologic diseases other than neonatal encephalopathy affect foals occasionally and should be considered when evaluating sick foals with clinical signs of neurologic dysfunction.