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DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF MALFORMATIONS
Author(s) -
Hughes A. F. W.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
biological reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.993
H-Index - 165
eISSN - 1469-185X
pISSN - 1464-7931
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-185x.1976.tb01123.x
Subject(s) - teratology , embryology , neural tube , biology , congenital malformations , developmental biology , physiology , neural tube defect , evolutionary biology , genetics , embryo , pregnancy , fetus
Summary 1. The scientific approach to malformations began with experimental work on abnormal conditions of incubation in the chick. 2. More precise experiments on causing abnormalities had a common origin with experimental embryology. 3. Progress in experimental teratology during the last fifty years is reviewed in a commentary on the four principles formulated by Stockard in 1921. 4. Some relationships are traced between the results of cytogenetical studies in man and in other organisms. 5. An account is given of present knowledge concerning malformations of the neural tube originating either experimentally, spontaneously, or phenotypically. 6. The teratological implications of some recent theories on the expression of the genotype are discussed, particularly in relation to problems of hormones as teratogens. 7. Some account is given of the implication of carbohydrate metabolism and terato‐genesis. 8. Teratogenesis is possibly related to cationic balance in early development. 9. It is suggested that one factor retarding progress in the understanding of malformations is the tendency towards the development of teratology in an insufficiently close relationship with other branches of cell biology.