Teratogenic Mechanisms

Nitrofen is used as a historical example showing that a specific pesticide can reliably cause a specific structural anomaly in animal models. Pesticides can interfere with normal organogenesis through four mechanistic pathways. The identified pathways include preconception DNA damage, postconception structural disruption, endocrine interference, and epigenetic action. The first trimester is presented as a heightened susceptibility window because organogenesis is active and embryos have limited detoxification capacity.