Ethanol is the most widely used psychoactive drug and, when used inappropriately, can have deleterious effects. The developing fetus is particularly sensitive to the deleterious effects of ethanol. Fetal alcohol exposure causes Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), which have an estimated prevalence reaching 1% in North America (1). FASD are associated with defects to numerous organs, includ...

The current use of animals to test for potential teratogenic effects of drugs and other chemicals dates back to the thalidomide disaster of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Controversy surrounds the following questions: 1. What was known about placental transfer of drugs when thalidomide was developed? 2. Was thalidomide tested on animals for teratogenicity prior to its release? 3. Would more an...

Mammalian ingestion of jervane, solanidane, and spirosolane steroidal alkaloids produces craniofacial congenital malformations in offspring upon administration during the primitive s t rdneura l plate developmental phase. Structure-terata studies have shown that hamster teratogenicity induced by steroidal alkaloids is primarily related to the presence of C-5, C-6 unsaturation and secondarily to...