Causes of human deformities

If a child is born with human deformities, it will bring great pain to the parents. So what exactly causes human deformities? We should understand the causes of human deformities so that we can effectively prevent human deformities. The harm caused by human deformities is very great. We should learn more about human deformities.

Human deformity is related to many factors. Some of these factors are unavoidable, but there are some factors we can try to avoid. Human deformity is related to genetics and our environment.

It is generally believed that the causes of congenital malformations include genetic factors, environmental factors, and the interaction between the two. Among them, birth defects caused by genetic factors account for 25%, environmental factors account for 10%, and the interaction between genetic and environmental factors and unknown causes account for 65%.

(1) Genetic factors and congenital malformations

What factors may cause a child to be born deformed? Genetic factors are a very important aspect. The key genetic factor is the changes in chromosomes and genes. If a mutation occurs, it is very likely that a deformed baby will be born. Chromosome mutations may also cause this to happen.

Chromosomes are originally opposite to each other in pairs, and a reduction in their number can cause congenital malformations, the most common of which is the monosomy. Monosomal embryos with plant chromosomes can hardly survive, and only 3% of monosomal embryos with sex chromosomes survive, but they may have deformities, such as congenital ovarian dysgenesis, namely Turner syndrome (45, 0X).

An increase in the number of chromosomes can also cause deformities, which is more common in trisomy. For example, the common congenital idiocy is caused by chromosome 21. Sex chromosome trisomy (47, XXY) can cause congenital testicular dysgenesis.

Structural abnormalities of chromosomes can also cause deformities. For example, the deletion of the end of the short arm of chromosome 5 can cause "cat cry syndrome." In addition to causing a few deformities, such as achondroplasia, polycystic kidney disease, and polydactyly, gene mutations mainly cause metabolic genetic diseases.

(2) Environmental factors and congenital malformations

It can also cause the baby to be born with deformities, which is an important factor of the environment. Although the proportion is not large, we still need to be wary of this situation and not joke about the health of our children. In addition, the environment surrounding the mother includes internal and external environments, which may also affect the development of the fetus and should not be underestimated.

Some teratogens in the external environment can directly act on the embryo by changing the internal environment and microenvironment, while others can indirectly act on the embryo by changing the internal environment and microenvironment. The main environmental teratogens are biological, physical, chemical, and drug.

The physical teratogens that have been confirmed so far include: radiation, mechanical compression and injury, high temperature, etc.; industrial "three wastes", pesticides, food additives and preservatives contain some teratogenic chemicals, including certain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, certain nitroso compounds, certain alkyl and benzene compounds, the pesticide diquat, lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, etc. The sedative "Thalidomide", which caused a large number of limb deformities in Western Europe in the 1960s, is an example of a chemical drug causing teratogenesis.

(3) Other teratogenic factors

Other teratogenic factors include alcoholism, heavy smoking, hypoxia, malnutrition, etc.

Viral infection is the main type of intrauterine infection. Due to the barrier function of the placenta, some large molecular substances are generally not easy to pass through the placenta, while viruses with smaller molecular weights and some parasites can infect the embryo or fetus through the placenta. The mother is infected with various pathogenic microorganisms during pregnancy, and the diseases are transmitted to the fetus through the mother, which can cause various malformations in the fetus.

The viruses that have been confirmed to have teratogenic effects on human embryos include: rubella virus, cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus, Toxoplasma, Treponema pallidum, and hepatitis B virus.

The harm of AIDS to the fetus has attracted people's attention.

Therefore, if you want to give birth to a healthy baby, future parents must pay attention to all aspects of their daily lives to avoid potential threats to their future babies from various factors.

Above we introduced what human deformities are. We know that parents are very afraid that their children will be born with human deformities, so we must understand some knowledge about human deformities. We must do a good job in preventing human deformities. Human deformities are related to genetics and environmental factors.