ABSTRACT
With the progress of perinatal medicine, the survival rate of premature infants has been greatly improved, but the incidence of preterm related complications has also increased, including growth retardation, premature brain injury, retinopathy of prematurity, bronchopulmonary dysplasia and necrotizing enterocolitis.Insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1)specifically binds to IGF-1 receptor to activate intracellular signaling pathways, so that can promote cell growth, proliferation and differentiation, and inhibit apoptosis.IGF-1 is involved in the development of the heart, brain, lung, and other important organs and promotes tissue growth, so it plays an important role in fetal intrauterine development and neonatal extrauterine growth.At present, some clinical trials have found that recombinant IGF-1 and its binding protein-3 can play a role in the prevention and treatment of retinopathy of prematurity and bronchopulmonary dysplasia, bringing hope for the prevention and treatment of these refractory complications of prematurity.In this review, the function of IGF-1 and its role in preterm related complications are reviewed.