Environmental factors and disturbances of brain development

Foetal and neonatal brain is under the influence of environmental factors from maternal and extra-maternal origin. Based on the available data, these environmental factors can be classified into three arbitrary groups: (i) factors and maternal status with a demonstrated deleterious effect on the foe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Seminars in neonatology 2001-04, Vol.6 (2), p.185-194
Main Authors: Gressens, Pierre, Mesples, Bettina, Sahir, Nadia, Marret, Stéphane, Sola, Augusto
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brain - embryology
Brain Injuries - etiology
Caffeine - adverse effects
Cocaine - adverse effects
Environmental Pollutants - adverse effects
Ethanol - adverse effects
ethanol, cocaine, caffeine, opiates, pre-term, maternal factors
Female
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Newborn, Diseases - etiology
Infant, Premature
Lead - adverse effects
Methylmercury Compounds - adverse effects
Narcotics - adverse effects
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications
Smoking - adverse effects
Substance-Related Disorders - complications
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Summary:Foetal and neonatal brain is under the influence of environmental factors from maternal and extra-maternal origin. Based on the available data, these environmental factors can be classified into three arbitrary groups: (i) factors and maternal status with a demonstrated deleterious effect on the foetal brain (i.e. ethanol, cocaine, some drugs including anticonvulsants, some viral infections, maternal diabetes, untreated maternal phenylketonuria); (ii) factors highly suspected to interfere with foetal brain development (i.e. lead and other heavy metals, some drugs like benzodiazepines, nicotine); (iii) factors which have been shown to be safe for the developing brain in the available studies (i.e. low to moderate doses of caffeine, methadone). However, most of these studies do not address the potential risk of environmental factors on minimal to moderate cognitive and behavioural disturbances. Finally, the impact of the neonatal environment on brain development in very pre-term infants is probably underestimated.
ISSN:1084-2756
1532-2815
DOI:10.1053/siny.2001.0048