Teratogenic neurobehavioral Teratogens

A common example of neurobehavioral teratogenic effects caused by polluted food is the Minamata disease. In a number of areas in Japan methylmercury from industrial waste accumulated in fish which was one of the main sources of the food of the local population. Another case of poisoning with methylmercury occurred in Iraq, where people consumed grain seed treated with a methylmercury fungicide. Women with only minimal poisoning symptoms gave birth to children that showed many neurological and behavioral abnormalities, such as mental retardation, coordination deficits and seizures (refs. 12, 13). 

Lecithin is another food constituent which has been shown to cause neurobehavioral teratogenic effects in rats. It is added to foods as an emulsifier, but it is also present in soy lecithin preparations which are consumed as healthy food supplements. Soy lecithin preparations contain various phospholipids which can be incorporated into the brain as membrane constituents or acetylcholine, and conceivably may affect brain development if available in high levels. Pregnant dams were fed a lecithin-enriched diet (prepared by adding a commercial soy lecithin preparation) from gestational day 7 until weaning. Subsequently, the pups were also fed this diet. Treated pups showed faster rightening responses on postnatal days 1 and 2 and slower... 

Noxious substances inhaled when smoking, caffeine absorbed from coffee or other drinks, ethanol-uptake from alcoholic drinks are examples of potentially neurobehavioral teratogens absorbed by pregnant women as part of everyday social life patterns. 

This information suggests that early pharmacological REM sleep suppression or other types of state disorganization may disrupt brain and behavioral development. Behavior in adulthood may still be changed as a consequence of the abnormal development, but also as a result of the aberrant adult sleep pattern. Therefore, chronic early REM sleep-like state suppression or other types of state disorganization may be important neurobehavioral teratogenic mechanisms (see also refs. 77, 118, 129). 

D.F. Swaab and M. Mirmiran, Possible mechanisms underlying the teratogenic effects of medicines on the developing brain, in J. Yanai (Ed.), Neurobehavioral Teratology, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1984, pp. 55-71. 

S. De Boer, M. Mirmiran, F. Van Haaren, A.L. Louwerse and N.E. Van de Poll, Neurobehavioral teratogenic effects of clomipramine and alpha-methyldopa, (submitted). 

Jacobson SW, Jacobson JL. 2000. Teratogenic insult and neurobehavioral function in infancy and childhood. In Nelson CA, ed. The Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology. Vol 31 The Effects of Early Adversity on Neurobehavioral Development. Mahwah, NJ Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Pp. 61-112. 

Jacobson SW, Jacobson JL. 2000. Teratogenic insult and neurobehavioral function in infancy and childhood. In ... 

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