PEDIATRICS Vol. 53 No. 5 May 1974, pp. 816-817
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Brown, A. K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Brown, A. K.

Special Susceptibility of the Fetal and Neonatal Hematopoietic System to Chemical Pollutants Including Drugs Administered to the Mother

Audrey K. Brown M.D.1

1 Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta

Because of the anemia or bleeding that may herald the adverse impact of any agent upon the hematopoietic system, the capacity of drugs, insecticides, lead, and other agents to cause malfunction of this system has long been recognized. As a matter of fact, the major therapeutic step in the management of recognized aplastic anemia is to separate the child from his environment even before the offending agent has been identified. There is, however, no good evidence to date that the child or neonate is singularly susceptible to aplastic anemia or neutropenia from such agents. In response to other agents, there is a special susceptibility of the hematopoietic system in the fetus and newborn.

One special feature of the fetus affecting susceptibility to environmental agents is that, in a sense, he is trapped in his environment; and, we cannot extract him early enough from exposures via the mother and placenta. The smoking mother, the heroin addict, and the mother exposed to industrial pollutants are the conduits through whom poisons may reach the fetus. The special features of fetal physiology, the stage of organ development, and the phase of physiologic maturity dictate the uniqueness of response at a particular time in gestation or immediately after delivery.

CHEMICAL EFFECTS ON RED CELLS OR PLATELETS

In the last trimester women take an average of 8.7 drug agents or vitamins and 80% of these agents are taken without medical supervision. The impact of these agents on red cells, white cells, platelets, the fetal coagulation system, and on the appearance of pigments formed during red cell destruction are in some instances predictable because of the growing fund of information concerning the unique physiology of these cells and systems in the fetus and newborn.