Despite adaptability of humans nervous system and brain to environmental stressors due to their plasticity, studies on fetus development shows that environmental stressors to the central nervous system of a fetus developing in the uterus has long-term and occasionally permanent impact. Development of the fetus central nervous systems entails an intricate development process that starts roughly three weeks of pregnancy (Grace et. al., 2015) . On the other hand, embryonic cells differentiation into different tissues begins a couple of days following fertilization. Embryonic differentiation entails four major processes including proliferation, differentiation, induction and migration.
Environmental stressors affects embryonic differentiation in various ways. For instance, Baker (2007) study indicates that nutritional deficiency in utero caused functional and structural alterations in the differentiating fetus in what Baker referred to as “fetal programming”, which compounded susceptibility to diseases during adult life. Investigations on the veracity of “fetal programming” hypothesis has confirmed a relationship between gestation diet and susceptibility to diseases such as stroke, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and hypertension. Latest studies show impact of environmental stressors to specific stages of fetus development. For instance, Pitcher et. al. (2006) study indicates that ischemic and hypoxic affront during the third trimester interfere with development of coordination, postural control, and motor skills in the cerebral cortex, which mainly develops in late pregnancy. Stress and subsequent build-up of cortisol hormone in pregnant mothers similarly leads to long-term motor development functional deficits. In particular, changes in cortisol hormone levels during pregnancy has been empirically associated with dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal locus. Several psychological, environmental conditions contribute to stress in pregnant mothers, including financial problems, day-to-day hassles, marital conflicts or death of loved ones.
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On the contrary, evidence-based studies show a positive relationship between prenatal environmental enrichment with both psychological and physiological development of the fetus. For instance, Zhang et. al. (2014) study shows a positive influence of prenatal environmental enrichment on nervous system development. Similarly, Zhang et. al. (2014) study shows that Chinese herbal remedies such as Radix Rehmanniae Preparata 1008g herbal medicine can correct fetal retardation. In particular, Zhang et. al. (2014) pinpointed a positive-negative prenatal effect of prenatal environmental enrichment on alteration of gene Irf7 and Ninj2 expression, which play a critical role in improvement of kidneys functioning.
References
Barker, D. J. (2007). The origins of the developmental origins theory. Journal of Internal Medicine, 261 , 412-417.
Grace, T., Bulsara, M., Robinson, M., & Hands, B. (2015). The Impact of Maternal Gestational Stress on Motor Development in Late Childhood and Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study. Child Development, 87 (1), 211-220.
Pitcher, J. B., Henderson-Smart, D. J., & Robinson, J. S. (2006). Prenatal Programming of Human Motor Function. Early Life Origins of Health and Disease Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 41-57.
Zhang, X., Zhang, H., Lin, L., Yang, Y., Deng, T., Liu, Q., Peng, D. (2014). Genes Underlying Positive Influence Of Prenatal Environmental Enrichment And Negative Influence Of Prenatal Earthquake Simulation And Corrective Influence Of Chinese Herbalmedicine On Rat Offspring: Irf7 And Ninj2. African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines, 11 (2), 367-376.
