Event Details

Placental and Fetal Brain Interfaces: How Effective Are They in Protecting Against Drugs and Toxins?

Women taking medication for clinical conditions, and their doctors, are often concerned about the possible effects of these drugs on their fetus and baby, should they become pregnant. There is a similar concern for women taking recreational drugs of addiction or who are exposed to toxins. The evidence available for doctors to advise their pregnant patients is limited. Much of the experimental evidence is targeted at determining the risk of congenital malformations from drug exposure early in pregnancy. There is much less attention paid to more subtle fetal injury or to drug exposure in later stages of pregnancy that may affect a wide range of systems, including the central nervous system. There is also limited information on how the placenta may respond to such drugs and either facilitate or protect against the transfer of drugs to the fetus. For clinically used drugs alone, over 1,200 drugs have been prescribed in pregnancy, in many cases without empirical evidence of possible effects on the fetus and later-life health outcomes. Given the potential for maternal-fetal drug exposure to affect a high proportion of the world’s population, both females and males of the next generation, this dearth of research needs to be urgently addressed. This meeting will bring together clinical and basic science researchers in this field from the UK, Europe and beyond. The aim is to review the existing state of knowledge for a range of drugs and toxins and to chart a way forward to revising policies and clinical management of pregnant women and their babies.

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