Antenatal steroids

Schwab, M., Roedel, M., Anwar, M.A., Muller, T, Schubert, H., Buchwalder, L.F., Walter, B., and Nathanielsz, P.W. (2000) Effects of betamethasone administration to the fetal sheep in late gestation on fetal cerebral blood flow. J. Physiol. 528: 619-632.

Schwab, M., Antonow-Schlorke, I., Kuhn, B., Muller, T., Schubert, H., Walter, B., Sliwka, U. and Nathanielsz, P.W. (2001) Effect of antenatal betamethasone treatment on microtubule associated proteins MAP1B and MAP2 in fetal sheep. J. Physiol. 530(Pt 3):497 506.

Muller, T., Lohle, M., Schubert, H., Bauer, R., Wicher, C., Antonow-Schlorke, I., Sliwka, U., Nathanielsz, P.W. and Schwab, M. (2002) Developmental changes in cerebral autoregulatory capacity in the fetal sheep parietal cortex. J. Physiol. 539: 957-967.

Antonow-Schlorke I, Schwab M., Li, C., Nathanielsz, P.W. (2003) Glucocorticoid exposure at the dose used clinically alters cytoskeletal proteins and presynaptic terminals in the fetal baboon brain. J Physiol. 547(1) 117-123.

As a neurologist, my research over the past few years has been based mostly on the side effects of antenatal glucocorticoids as administered to pregnant women during premature labor on the developing brain. We have demonstrated that glucocorticoid exposure on the levels used in human clinical practice result in several unwanted changes in the brain.