Ebook: Drug Toxicity in Embryonic Development I: Advances in Understanding Mechanisms of Birth Defects: Morphogenesis and Processes at Risk

Having received the invitation from Springer-Verlag to produce a volume on drug-induced birth defects for the Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, we asked ourselves what new approach could we offer that would capture the state of the science and bring a new synthesis of the information on this topic to the world's literature. We chose a three-pronged approach, centered around those particular drugs for which we have a relatively well established basis for understanding how they exert their unwanted effects on the human embryo. We then supplemented this information with a series of reviews of critical biological processes involved in the established normal developmental patterns, with emphasis on what happens to the embryo when the processes are perturbed by experimental means. Knowing that the search for mechanisms in teratology has often been inhibited by the lack of understanding of how normal development proceeds, we also included chapters describing the amazing new discoveries related to the molecular control of normal morphogenesis for several organ systems in the hope that the experimental toxicologists and molecular biologists will begin to better appreciate each others questions and progress. Several times during the last two years of developing outlines, issuing invitations, reviewing chapters, and cajoling belated contributors, we have wondered whether we made the correct decision to undertake this effort.

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Content:
Front Matter....Pages I-XXVIII
Introduction....Pages 1-7
Front Matter....Pages 9-9
Cardiac Morphogenesis: Formation and Septation of the Primary Heart Tube....Pages 11-40
Vertebrate Limb Development....Pages 41-75
Axial Skeleton....Pages 77-112
Molecular Mechanisms Regulating the Early Development of the Vertebrate Nervous System....Pages 113-127
Genetic Control of Kidney Morphogenesis....Pages 129-182
Palate....Pages 183-205
Front Matter....Pages 209-209
Cell Death....Pages 211-244
Cellular Responses to Stress....Pages 245-275
Cell-Cell Interactions....Pages 277-300
Growth Factor Disturbance....Pages 301-324
Targeted Gene Disruptions as Models of Abnormal Development....Pages 325-337
Nucleotide Pool Imbalance....Pages 341-372
Interference with Embryonic Intermediary Metabolism....Pages 373-406
Alterations in Folate Metabolism as a Possible Mechanism of Embryotoxicity....Pages 407-432
Prostaglandin Metabolism....Pages 433-452
Reactive Intermediates....Pages 453-518
Hypoxia and Altered Redox Status in Embryotoxicity....Pages 519-548
Altered Embryonic pH....Pages 549-572
Maternal Physiological Disruption....Pages 573-594
Back Matter....Pages 595-610

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Content:
Front Matter....Pages I-XXVIII
Introduction....Pages 1-7
Front Matter....Pages 9-9
Cardiac Morphogenesis: Formation and Septation of the Primary Heart Tube....Pages 11-40
Vertebrate Limb Development....Pages 41-75
Axial Skeleton....Pages 77-112
Molecular Mechanisms Regulating the Early Development of the Vertebrate Nervous System....Pages 113-127
Genetic Control of Kidney Morphogenesis....Pages 129-182
Palate....Pages 183-205
Front Matter....Pages 209-209
Cell Death....Pages 211-244
Cellular Responses to Stress....Pages 245-275
Cell-Cell Interactions....Pages 277-300
Growth Factor Disturbance....Pages 301-324
Targeted Gene Disruptions as Models of Abnormal Development....Pages 325-337
Nucleotide Pool Imbalance....Pages 341-372
Interference with Embryonic Intermediary Metabolism....Pages 373-406
Alterations in Folate Metabolism as a Possible Mechanism of Embryotoxicity....Pages 407-432
Prostaglandin Metabolism....Pages 433-452
Reactive Intermediates....Pages 453-518
Hypoxia and Altered Redox Status in Embryotoxicity....Pages 519-548
Altered Embryonic pH....Pages 549-572
Maternal Physiological Disruption....Pages 573-594
Back Matter....Pages 595-610
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