title: Unique brain anomalies in an infant of a diabetic mother.
abstract: An offspring of a class F diabetic primigravida with marginal control during the first 8 weeks of the gestation had a level II sonogram at 23 weeks. It showed polyhydramnios and "hydrocephaly." Macrosomia, right hydroureter, megacystis and premature birth corroborated the diagnostic impression of diabetic embryopathy. At age 3 years, the child functions within the moderate range of mental retardation. Angiography, choanogram, CT and MRI scans showed unique CNS abnormalities that appeared secondary to a hamartomatous growth within the left cerebral hemisphere. Such anomaly, most likely a part of the phenotype of the diabetic embryopathy, implies a growth disturbance secondary to dysregulated paracrine growth factors (somatomedins, nerve growth factor, panregulin and/or their receptors in this case). It also indicates a possibility of interaction between two dysregulated major growth mechanisms; the endocrine in the mother considered responsible for the overall phenotype of the diabetic embryopathy/fetopathy and the paracrine fine tuning mechanism in the embryo incriminated by the hamartomatous over/undergrowth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of South Florida, Tampa.
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Kousseff
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Villaveces
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Martinez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000196:embryology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011247:Pregnancy; D011254:Pregnancy in Diabetics