User:Katlynheneghan/sandbox

Teratogens are substances that may cause birth defects via a toxic effect on an embryo or fetus.[2] Known teratogens include: thalidomide [3] mercury [4] alcohol [5] lead [6] and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's).[7]


 * I recommend possibly adding links to each of the known teratogens, and then citing them all in brackets at the end of the sentence. However, to be honest i dont know the proper way to cite this. Maybe add al the links and keep the citations next to them as well. -Michell W.

[3] Therapontos, Christina (May 26, 2009). "Thalidomide induces limb defects by preventing angiogenic outgrowth during early limb formation". PNAS. 106 (21): 8573-8578. doi:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0901505106

[4] Holt, D (April 1986). "The toxicity and teratogenicity of mercuric mercury in the pregnant rat". Arch Toxicol. 4 (58): 243-8. doi:10.1007/BF00297114.

[5] Welch-Carre, Elizabeth. "The Neurodevelopmental Consequences of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure". MedScape. Medscape.

[6] Bellinger, DC (June 2005). "Teratogen update: lead and pregnancy". NCBI. 6 (73): 409-20.

[7] Jacobson, J (May 1997). "Teratogen update: polychlorinated biphenyls". Teratology. 5 (55): 338-347.

Alcohol

While a variety of environmental agents are known to act as teratogens, perhaps the most dangerous is one of the oldest and most widely used recreational substances: alcohol. Unlike mercury or other teratogens, which are prevalent in the air, water, and the soil,[13] making them difficult to avoid, prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is entirely preventable. Still, PAE remains the leading cause of birth defects and neurodevelopmental abnormalities in the United States, affecting 9.1 to 50 per 1000 live births in the U.S. and 68.0 to 89.2 per 1000 in populations with high levels of alcohol abuse.[14]


 * When using statistics on a wiki page, just make sure they're super up to date. -Michell W.

Current evidence suggests that prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) produces craniofacial malformations via: apoptosis of neural crest cells,[15] interference with neural crest cell migration, [16] [17] as well as the disruption of sonic hedgehog (shh) signaling.[18]

[13] Brigham, Mark. "Mercury". USGS.

[14] Gordis, M.D., Enoch. "Fetal Alcohol Exposure and the Brain". National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

[15] Sulik, K. K (1988). "Teratogens and craniofacial malformations: relationships to cell death". Development. 103: 213-232.

[16] Yu, Shi (September 16, 2014). "5-mehtyltetrahydrofolate rescues alcohol-induced neural crest cell migration abnormalities". Molecular Brain (67).

[17] Cartwright, M. (December 1995). "Stage-dependent effects of ethanol on cranial neural crest cell development: partial basis for the phenotypic variations observed in fetal alcohol syndrome". Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1. 6 (19): 1454-62.

[18] Boschen, Karen E. (October 19, 2019). "Prenatal alcohol exposure disrupts Shh pathway and primary cilia genes in the mouse neural tube". BioRXiV.