There is a critical window of neurodevelopment in the perinatal period, when multiple important events take place in brain that are sensitive to the brain tissue oxygenation (Cisneros-Franco et al., 2020; Ujhazy et al., 2013; Failor et al., 2010). Oxygen deprivation (OD) is among the main causes of neonatal morbidity, and affects 0.1 to 0.8 % of term-born babies and 60 % of preterm babies (MacDonald et al., 1980; Kurinczuk et al., 2010). Individuals who survive OD often develop permanent neurological sequelae, such as cognitive and motor deficits (Back and Miller, 2014; Vannucci, 2000; Wilson-Costello et al., 2005), and psychiatric disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia (Giannopoulou et al., 2018; van Handel et al., 2007).

Among the processes disrupted by perinatal OD, myelination is one of the most prevalent, and white matter injury is a common finding in human post-mortem brains, as well as in live magnetic resonance images. Myelination is a prolonged neurodevelopmental process that ensures the efficiency and speed of action potentials by insulating axons with a specialized membrane compounded of 70 % lipids and 30 % proteins (van Tilborg et al., 2017). The myelination of axons is essential for the maturation of the central nervous system (CNS) and depends on glial cells called oligodendrocytes (OLs). Moreover, OLs support the maturation of neurons by the production of trophic factors, such as glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), or insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) (Jang et al., 2019; Schmidt and Knosche, 2019; Wilkins, 2003; Zhao et al., 2001).

The development of the OL lineage is modulated by delicate interactions between CNS cells, the temporal production of trophic factors, signaling molecules, vesicular transport, energy input, as well as the control of intracellular transport, which shows a complex interaction between the axon, environment, and myelinating cell (Nishiyama et al., 2021; Santos et al., 2019). The impact of sexual dimorphism on the production and maturation of OLs has received less attention. However, some studies have observed sex-dependent differences in white matter as well as in the volume of white matter in specific structures, such as the corpus callosum (Cerghet et al., 2009; Fitch et al., 1990).

This review summarizes the latest research about the interaction between the neuroinflammatory status caused by OD in neonates and the associated white matter injury, with a special foccus on the sex-dependent consequences on myelination. To achieve this aim, we discuss (1) the physiological development of the oligodendrocyte lineage, (2) the myelination process, (3) how neonatal OD and neuroinflammation can interact at different stages of myelination, (4) the impact of neuroinflammation on myelination, (5) the common features of the neurodevelopmental disorders due to white matter injury and neonatal OD, and, lastly, (6) the recent reports about the sexual dimorphism in the myelination and neuroinflammation processes after neonatal OD events.