Prenatal vulnerabilities

We ll return to the issue of prenatal vulnerabilities—their whys and wherefores—but first we need to discuss what surely is everyone s favorite topic genetics. Genomes and genes are big buzzwords these days, with some people in the media tossing them around willy-nilly as though they know what they mean. 

So the first important cause of prenatal vulnerability is complexity the sheer complexity at many levels of prenatal development means that an enormous number of different and important process points are available for disruptive effects. 

The third major cause of prenatal vulnerability involves size and simple physics. If a small permeable mass—a cluster of... 

The goal of this chapter is to stimulate research activity to develop both novel intervention strategies and therapeutic approaches to mitigate the neurotoxicity associated with prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The focus of this chapter is PAH exposure of vulnerable populations as a result of terrorist attacks on US targets. We will attempt to define the signature of prenatal PAH exposure-induced neurotoxicity within the context of human epidemiological data and translate this to appropriate animals models. 

The vulnerability of the conceptus is viewed as due to qualitative or quantitative characteristics of both structure and function (1) it is composed of a small number of rapidly dividing undifferentiated cells with absent or limited metabolic capabilities to alter or detoxify xenobiotics, repair lesions, etc. (2) there is a necessity for precise temporal and spatial localization of specific cell numbers and types, as well as specific cell products, for normal differentiation, including programmed cell death (3) sensitivities of certain cell types to certain insults may be unique to specific periods of cell movement, induction, or differentiation (i.e., transient vulnerability during the period of formation of tissues or organs) and (4) the immunosurveillance system (to provide recognition of self and detection of xenobiotics or lesions) is absent or immature in the prenatal or perinatal individual. 

Vulnerability to prenatal Hg exposure might be enhanced or attenu... 

Nor, as we already know, is it an easy process prenatal development is the most vulnerable period in the biological history of any human being. There are entire ranges of prenatal effects... 

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