objective: fetal development of the central nervous system is an important and sensitive stage which is affected by many external and internal stimuli. this study aimed to investigate effect of musical stimuli on fetal rat brain. materials and methods: in this experimental study, twelve female wistar rats were selected and evenly assigned to control and musical groups. the females were mated wi...

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, including hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and pituitary corticotropin, is one of the first endocrine systems to develop during fetal life, probably because glucocorticoid secretion is necessary for the maturation of many essential fetal organs. Consistent with this, pregnant mice with an inactivating mutation in the Crh gene deli...

Most of our knowledge on the mechanisms of thyroid hormone (TH) dependent brain development is based on clinical observations and animal studies of maternal/fetal hypothyroidism. THs play an essential role in brain development and hormone deficiency during critical phases in fetal life may lead to severe and permanent brain damage. Maternal hypothyroidism is considered the most common cause of ...

While selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants are commonly prescribed in the treatment of depression, their use during pregnancy leads to fetal drug exposures. According to recent reports, such exposures could affect fetal development and long-term offspring health. A central question is how pregnancy-induced physical and physiological changes in mothers, fetuses, and the ...

Fetal metabolism is an extremely important function of the fetus and is assumed to help in maintaining its growth and development and a great deal of it is now known to many researchers. In spite of possessing insight and knowhow’s of fetal metabolism, there is still no direct co-relation about the influence of the fetal metabolism and its effect in the control on the fetal growth, development ...

Background & Aims: Since at early pregnancy (<20 week) fetal thyroid gland is undeveloped, normal development of the Fetal brain is highly dependent on maternal thyroid hormones. There are excessive adverse perinatal outcomes associated with overt and subclinical hypothyroidism such as increase of Abortion, preeclampsia, placenta Abruption, LBW, preterm labor, impaired fetal neuropsychological ...

Introduction This study presents the first direct investigation of fetal brain activity in utero using fMRI. Human fetal brain activity is usually studied indirectly by monitoring the changes in fetal heart rate and associated fetal movements, although recently fetal MEG has been attempted’. fMRI offers a safe and relatively robust method of monitoring fetal brain activity. This has major impli...

All important developmental milestones are accomplished during the fetal stage, and nutrient fluctuation during this stage produces lasting effects on offspring health, so called fetal programming or developmental programming. The fetal stage is critical for skeletal muscle development, as well as adipose and connective tissue development. Maternal under-nutrition at this stage affects the prol...