Nerve prenatal function

Repeat-dose neurotoxicity studies may identify behavioral effects or impaired nerve functions that can interfere with mating or maternal care. Developmental neurotoxicity studies have been conducted for specific pesticide classes, following requirements of US-EPA. If such a study is available it can be examined not only for the study-specific endpoints on the developing brain but also compared to the prenatal toxicity study and the two-generation smdy with respect to general endpoints of pre- and postnatal development, respectively. 

New techniques are being used to locate brain damage from fetal alcohol exposure. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), for example, has been used to analyze the shape of the corpus callosum (the thick band of nerve fibers connecting the two hemispheres of the brain) in adult males who were exposed prenatally to alcohol and relate the measurements to neuropsychological deficits.34 The men showed more variability of corpus-callosum shape and the excess shape variation is associated with behavioral deficits. A relatively thick corpus callosum is associated with deficits in executive function, while a relatively thin corpus callosum is associated with deficits in motor function. 

Effects of lead on the nervous system are both structural and functional, involving the cerebellum, spinal cord, and motor and sensory nerves the result may be deterioration of intellectual, sensory, neuromuscular, and psychological functions. The pathogenesis of lead-induced injury to the nervous system is poorly understood, but may be mediated through vascular damage, the direct action of lead on neurons, or alterations in porphyrin metabolism. Retarded brain growth in prenatal... 

---