Background: Acute high dose exposure to teratogenic chemicals alters the proper development of an embryo leading to infertility, impaired fecundity, and few viable offspring. However, chronic exposure to sub-toxic doses of teratogens during early development may also have long-term impacts on egg quality and embryo viability. Methods: To test the hypothesis that low dose exposure during early d...

Considerable livestock losses occur annually as the result of toxic plants that cause embryonic death, abortion, and fetal abnormalities [1-3]. Plant toxins also interfere with reproduction through their effects on male fertility, especially by affecting spermatogenesis. The plant species that have been historically associated with abortion and infertility in livestock are listed in Table 8-1. ...

A congenital malformation is an anatomical or structural abnormality present at birth. Congenital malformations may be caused by genetic factors or environmental insults or a combination of the two that occur during prenatal development. Most common congenital malformations demonstrate multifactorial inheritance with a threshold effect and are determined by a combination of genetic and environm...