Microcephaly is caused by genetic abnormalities, exposure to toxic substances, lack of proper nutrition and even infections during pregnancy.
Microcephaly is a condition in which a baby's head is significantly smaller than it's expected to be.
Certain genetic conditions such as Down Syndrome, Seckel syndrome or even Cornelia de Lange Syndrome can cause microcephaly and even genetic mutations can disrupt normal brain development and result in a smaller head size.
Certain infections during pregnancy such as the Zika virus, toxoplasmosis, rubella or even cytomegalovirus can be passed from the mother to the fetus and cause brain damage which results in microcephaly and other infections such as herpes and syphilis during pregnancy can also cause microcephaly.
If the pregnant mother is exposed to harmful toxins and substances such as drugs, alcohol and heavy metals it can also lead to microcephaly and impact fetal brain development negatively.
Methylmercury poisoning is also another example of a toxic substance which can lead to microcephaly.
Or if the pregnant mother is severely malnourished it can deprive the developing fetus of essential nutrients and also hinder the babies brain growth.
Even inadequate nutrition in the baby after birth can also lead to microcephaly.
Another similar condition is microlissencephaly which is a severe brain malformation that means the person has both a smooth brain also known as lissencephaly and an abnormally small head size called microcephaly.
Microlissencephaly is a rare condition that often has a fatal outcome during the neonatal period.
With lissencephaly the brain's surface is smooth instead of normally having the normal folds and ridges called gyri and sulci.
Microcephlay is when the heads circumference is significantly smaller than average.
And people with microlissencephaly experience severe developmental delays including seizures, intellectual disabilities and spasticity.
Many babies born with microlissencephaly sadly die in the neonatal period or shorter after they are born.
Microlissencephaly is caused by a variety of genetic mutations and developmental issues.
Diagnoses of microlissencephaly can be done between the 34 to 35 gestational weeks prenatally using MRI.
At birth, lissencephaly and a head circumference that is less than three standard deviations below the mean are also indicative of microlissencephaly.
Another good tool for genetic diagnoses and microlissencephaly is exome sequencing.
The condition microlissencephaly is often caused by mutations in genes that are involved in neural tube closure, neuronal migration or neurogenesis.
Mutations in the genes such as CITRON KINASE (CIT) also have been linked to microlissencephaly and it can also be inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern.