The influence of maternal environment on fetal development is largely unexplored, the available evidence concerns only the deleterious effects elicited by prenatal stress. Here we investigated the influence of prenatal enrichment on the early development of the visual system in the fetus. We studied the anatomical development of the rat retina, by analyzing the migration of neural progenitors a...

Prenatal exposure to excessive amounts of glucocorticosteroids (GCs) adversely affects the neural development and subsequent behavior of animals (see Matthews, 2000). Despite this, women who are likely to delivery prematurely are routinely given prenatal GCs because they decrease morbidity and mortality in preterm (PT) infants. Between 1994 and 2000, there was no consensus about the optimal num...

The prenatal environment is a source of phenotypic variability influencing the animal's characteristics. Prenatal stress affects not only the development of offspring, but also that of the following generation. Such effects have been best documented in mammals but can also be observed in birds, suggesting common processes across phylogenetic orders. We found previously that Japanese quail femal...

BACKGROUND Prenatal environmental enrichment (EE) has been proven to positively affect but prenatal stress negatively influence the physiological and psychological processes in animals, whose trans-generational genetic mechanism remains unclearly defined. We aimed to investigate and find out key genes underlying the positive-negative effects derived from prenatal interventions. MATERIALS AND ...

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) affect up to 1 in 68 children. Autism-specific autoantibodies directed against fetal brain proteins have been found exclusively in a subpopulation of mothers whose children were diagnosed with ASD or maternal autoantibody-related autism. We tested the impact of autoantibodies on brain development in mice by transferring human antigen-specific IgG directly into t...

INTRODUCTION Exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) before birth can adversely affect children's neurodevelopment. The most common form of prenatal exposure is maternal fish consumption, but whether such exposure harms the fetus is unknown. We aimed to identify adverse neurodevelopmental effects in a fish-consuming population. METHODS We investigated 779 mother-infant pairs residing in the Republic...

Prenatal exposure to maternal stress, anxiety, and depression can have lasting effects on infant development with risk of psychopathology. Although the impact of prenatal maternal distress has been well documented, the potential mechanisms through which maternal psychosocial variables shape development have yet to be fully elucidated. Advances in molecular biology have highlighted the role of e...

a b s t r a c tintroduction: because of more exposure to mercury compounds, the prenatal and postnatal neurotoxic effects of mercury compounds have gained more attention in last decade. the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of mercuric chloride intoxication on spinal cord development during prenatal period. methods: 36 adult sprague-dawley rats after observing vaginal mating plaq...

In postnatal dental development, and in crown size itself, there is a demonstrable "distance gradient" so that teeth closer together within a jaw quadrant show higher correlations. Thus, adjacent teeth exhibit systematically higher commonality in both tooth formation and crown size than more remote teeth in the same quadrant, despite absolute differences in formation (calcification, root elonga...

Robert was small and slightly underweight at birth. He had been exposed to drugs while his mother was pregnant. His cries sometimes sounded high-pitched, and he was often tense and rigid. Robert’s mother moved twice before he was two-years old. First she moved in with her mother; then she moved out again. Robert was not quite as quick as other children at learning new words. He was not good at ...