Teratology Teratology is a part of Embryology, related to the study of congenic alterations of the development of an organism and the factors

that produce them; it can be related to plants, animals and specially human beings which is the topic of this writing. Field of action The purpose of teratology is not just to know that there are many congenic abnormalities and what they are about, but also to search ways to attempt to prevent them or limit the damage that they cause, to the individual and the family , for example, it has been narrowly said that women who are pregnant must ingest folic acid (vitamin B6) three previous months and at the three first months of gestation, because, according to many researches, it has been discovered that this substance is necessary for the production and maintenance of new cells, DNA synthesis and RNA synthesis, in that way, we have that it is very important for the first trimester of pregnancy, time when most of the organs of the fetus are developed; lack of folic acid has been related to abnormalities of closing of Neural tube like Spina bifida and Anencephaly, as well as some cases of agenesis (lack of an organ of the body). Concept of abnormality Congenic abnormalities are those anatomical, structural and biochemical abnormalities showed at conception. They can be microscopic or macroscopic, intern or extern, they can be expressed or not at birth, some abnormalities are expressed up until puberty, extern abnormalities commonly are signs of intern and . Abnormalities are divided according to their cause; those can be caused by genetic factors, for example, Down syndrome; or environmental factors, such as Acrania (lack of bones of the Crain). Some abnormalities caused by genetic factors can have environmental antecedents, for example a pregnant woman who is in her 2nd trimester of pregnancy, she gets an injury and it is necessary an X-ray exam, we know that it can cause alterations at the development of the fetus but it has passed the most critical period, so it will not cause any visible abnormality, as a result we have a mutation on a gen, which is no expressed and when that baby grows up and is a growth man has a baby, that new baby can have a problem due to that mutant gen. Pregnancy and abnormalities Pregnancy is an important and delicate period; there are some stages of it that are more susceptible to alterations than others: The first one, first three weeks: Alterations during this period of time do not usually develop abnormalities because the cells cannot stand the damage and they kill the embryo or are fixed due to the flexibility of embryonic cells. The second period and the most important of all this process, is from fourth to eighth week: It is the most susceptible period, because throughout this time, it is produced the initial establishment of all of the organs. If one organ has not started to be formed by this time, it will undoubtedly cause agenesis. The last one goes from third to ninth month: Alterations originated during this period are usually physiological or cause disorders in the growth of zones already formed.

Each organ has its own period of susceptibility, complex organs such as the brain structure and organs of senses show long periods of high susceptibility and not all the teratogens act at the same periods of growth. Prevention The prevention of abnormalities starts from the moment someone decides to have a baby, it does not matter if it is a woman or a man, in the case of a man there are some factors that can cause problems in the genesis of spermatozoon, for example, radiation, drugs, excessive heat, etc., that is why it is recommended to do semen samples to evaluate the quality of the spermatozoon. About a woman something that should be considered is the age of her, it would be so much better if the first pregnancy were five years after the menarche (first menstruation) and before her thirty-fifth year of life, because the ovules that are presents since the moment she was born, have been in a kind of pause in their first meiotic division and by the pass of the time an error during the termination of that division is more probably, that is the reason why some syndromes such as the Down one, which has more incidence in woman older than thirty-five years old; she should also avoid radiations, drugs and contact with chemicals; as well as ingest folic acid three months before and three months during the pregnancy, as it was mentioned before, it is also recommended to have an strict control with an obstetrician gynecologist to prevent problems during pregnancy and at the conception and maintain the health of the mother and the baby, etc. Correction The methods of correction depend on the kind of abnormality and its etiology (causation, or origination). Chemical abnormalities, such as lack of an enzyme can be just controlled by drugs or a special alimentation, such as phenylketonuria (lack of hepatic enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase, necessary to metabolize the amino acid phenylalanine). Physical abnormalities, cleft lip and palate for example, can be fixed by plastic surgery, it has been developed some intrauterine procedures, they has so much better results than normal procedures, because they do not leave visible signs of the initial problem or any scar. Otherwise, some abnormalities related to genetic factors cannot be fixed, that is the case of Down syndrome, because once the fecundation has been done, it is impossible to suppress the extra chromosome that is present and it is inevitable of having a baby without the syndrome. Conclusion According to all the things said before, we can see that teratology is really important, it is related to most of the branches of medicine, due to the fact that every organ is prone to have an abnormal development during pregnancy and the relevance of preventing or limit the health problems that an abnormality can cause. References Kalter, H. (2003). Teratology in the twentieth century, congenital malformations in humans and how their environmental causes were established. Elsevier Science. Moore, K. L., & Persaud, T. V. N. (1995). Embriologa clnica. Teratology society. (2011). http://www.teratology.org/.