Dias Mark S, Partington Michael
Department of Neurological Surgery, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033, USA.
Neurosurg Focus. 2004 Feb 15;16(2):E1. doi: 10.3171/foc.2004.16.2.2.
The authors review current views on of the embryogenesis of the neural tube defects (NTDs) myelomeningocele and anencephaly. In this context, the following four approaches to the study of NTDs are discussed: normal morphogenesis and timing of early human neural development from conception to the ascent of the conus medullaris; mechanical and molecular biology of neural tube closure derived from experimental and animal models; morphological and biomechanical features of the NTDs myelomeningocele and anencephaly; and the experimental evidence for the importance of both genetic and environmental influences on human NTDs. Although considerable insight into both normal neural tube closure and the factor(s) by which this process may be disrupted has been reported in recent years, the exact mechanism(s) by which human myelomeningoceles and anencephaly arise remain elusive.
作者回顾了当前关于神经管缺陷（NTDs）、脊髓脊膜膨出和无脑畸形胚胎发生的观点。在此背景下，讨论了以下四种研究NTDs的方法：从受孕到脊髓圆锥上升阶段早期人类神经发育的正常形态发生和时间进程；来自实验和动物模型的神经管闭合的力学和分子生物学；脊髓脊膜膨出和无脑畸形的形态学和生物力学特征；以及遗传和环境因素对人类NTDs影响的重要性的实验证据。尽管近年来已报道了对正常神经管闭合以及该过程可能被破坏的因素有了相当深入的了解，但人类脊髓脊膜膨出和无脑畸形发生的确切机制仍然难以捉摸。
