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Autism and Environmental Factors, First Edition. Omar Bagasra and Cherilyn Heggen.
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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We can believe in the future and work to achieve it and preserve it, or we
can whirl blindly on, behaving as if one day there will be no children to
inherit our legacy. The choice is ours; the earth is in balance.
Al Gore, 1992, Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit
Link between Damage to the Fetal Brain and Maternal
Antibodies: A Double Jeopardy
In the previous chapters, we have detailed the role of synthetic chemicals,
particularly those that are found commonly in fragrances, detergents, soap,
air fresheners, car wash, food flavors, drinks, air, water and so many other
places. Many are endocrine disrupting chemicals that can perturb the
body’s homeostasis. Industrial chemicals can harm a developing fetal brain
in ways that cannot be perceived easily by currently available technology.
However, as is shown in well‐documented studies, many of the synthetic
chemicals would be neurotoxic to rapidly replicating human fetal brain
cells. General neurotoxicity or “‘highly selective cytotoxicity” to specific
types of neurons [i.e., oxytocin or arginine vasopressin (AVP) receptors,
olfactory neurons] would cause neuronal death to a larger extent than what
occurs as part of the well‐orchestrated brain development, where pro
grammed cell death is part of fetal brain proliferation and differentiation
processes. During normal embryogenesis, fetal development and all
through life many cell types go through programmed cell death (called
apoptosis) and antigens that are released are either digested by specialized
cells (as in the fetus) or never cross the amniotic membrane and reach the
8 Maternal Antibodies to Fetal Brain Neurons and Autism
Neurons and Autism
