Thursday, August 10, 2006

Ultrasound Affects Embryonic Mouse Brain Development

I know Tom Cruise bought Katie an ultrasound machine so she could see "what was going on" at any time. This might be a warning...

From Yale: Ultrasound Affects Embryonic Mouse Brain Development:
"The study reported on August 7 is believed to be the first to look at the possible effect of ultrasound waves (USW) on neuronal migration in mice at a late stage of embryonic brain development, when the migratory pathways are the longest and may be most vulnerable. The Yale team injected more than 335 fetal mice at embryonic day 16 with special markers to track neuronal development. Exposure to USW for 30 minutes or longer caused a small but statistically significant number of neurons to remain scattered within inappropriate cortical layers and/or in the adjacent white matter."
Note: Ultrasound DOES have its uses. In my case, it helped me figure out that what I thought was a pregnancy was actually a blighted ovum and I was able to get it out earlier (okay, the crazy anti-abortion protesters...but that's another story).

But obviously you don't want to tinker too much with the delicate circuitry of the developing fetal brain. I know a bunch of moms in my birthing class who went and did this study for Brown, where they had an U/S for an hour or so and got a video of it as a reward. Eeeeps. And in strip malls they have similar places were you can get ultrasound CDs made for your friends. FertilityBitch says, for the love of Pete, don't do that!!!!!

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