Impacts on prenatal development of the human cerebellum: a systematic review

Purpose: The cerebellum is essential for normal neurodevelopment and is particularlysusceptible for intra-uterine disruptions. Although some causal prenatal exposures havebeen identified, the origin of neurodevelopmental disorders remains mostly unclear. Therefore,a systematic literature search was conducted to provide an overview of parental environmentalexposures and intrinsic factors influencing prenatal cerebellar growth and development inhumans.

Materials and methods: The literature search was limited to human studies in the Englishlanguage and was conducted in Embase, Medline, Cochrane, Web of Science, Pubmed andGoogleScholar. Eligible studies were selected by three independent reviewers and study qualitywas scored by two independent reviewers.

Results: The search yielded 3872 articles. We found 15 eligible studies reporting associationsbetween cerebellar development and maternal smoking (4), use of alcohol (3),in vitrofertilization mediums (1), mercury (1), mifepristone (2), aminopropionitriles (1), ethnicity (2) andcortisol levels (1). No studies reported on paternal factors.

Conclusions: Current literature on associations between parental environmental exposures,intrinsic factors and human cerebellar development is scarce. Yet, this systematic reviewprovided an essential overview of human studies demonstrating the vulnerability of thecerebellum to the intra-uterine environment.