Causes of chromosomal abnormalities in unborn babies & bull; hello healthy

Chromosomal abnormalities are one of the problems that babies can experience from the time they are in the womb. This can cause stunted growth and development of the baby since the womb. This is also something that endangers the health of your baby, it can even cause the death of the baby before birth. Usually, chromosomal abnormalities are more prone to occur in pregnant women at an older age. What caused it?

How do chromosomal abnormalities occur?

Fetuses in your uterus may have chromosomal abnormalities before they are born. Chromosomal abnormalities can occur due to errors when your baby's cells divide. This cell division is called meiosis and mitosis.

Meiosis

Meiosis is the process of dividing cells from sperm and eggs to create new cells, including sex cell division. This is the initial process of growing a baby in the womb after the egg meets the sperm. The cells from the mother and father will contribute 23 chromosomes each, so that their prospective baby will get a total of 46 chromosomes.

However, when this meiotic division does not occur correctly, the chromosomes obtained by the baby can have an excess or even less than the normal number (46 chromosomes). Errors in this division process will result in chromosomal abnormalities in your future baby.

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Over time, the prospective baby then receives an extra chromosome (called a trisomy) or experiences a chromosome loss (known as a monosomy). A pregnancy with a trisomy or monosomy can lead to miscarriage or stillbirth (stillbirth). If this pregnancy can last until the full gestational age, the baby can experience health problems that he can suffer for life. All of these things happen because of chromosomal abnormalities that the baby is experiencing in the womb.

Here are some examples of cell division errors that result in chromosomal abnormalities.

Down syndrome, is a genetic disorder caused by an error in the division of chromosome number 21 cells. In this disorder, a person has 3 cells of chromosome number 21 (trisomy).
Turner syndrome, namely a genetic disorder that occurs in women, in which a woman only has one X sex chromosome (X monosomy). (Normally, a person has two X sex chromosomes or one X and Y sex chromosome)
Edward syndrome, a chromosomal abnormality that occurs on chromosome number 18. There are excess cells on the chromosome at this number (trisomy 18).
Patau syndrome, occurs because of an abnormality of chromosome number 13. There are 3 cells on chromosome number 13 (trisomy 13).
Cri du chat syndrome, occurs because the 5p chromosome is missing. This causes various problems, such as small head size, problems with language, delayed walking, hyperactivity, mental disabilities, and others.

Mitosis

Mitosis is almost the same as meiosis, which is the process of cell division when a fertilized egg is developing. However, the cells resulting from this mitotic division are more numerous than the cells that result from meiosis. Mitosis can produce as many as 92 chromosome cells, then divide again into 46 chromosomes and 46 chromosomes, and so on to form your future baby.

During mitotic division, errors can also occur, causing chromosomal abnormalities in the baby. If the chromosomes are not divided in the same number, the newly formed cell can either have additional chromosomes (a total of 47 chromosomes) or experience chromosome loss (the number of chromosomes becomes 45). This abnormal number of chromosomal cells can then cause your future baby to develop chromosomal abnormalities.

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Why are pregnant women who are older at greater risk for chromosomal abnormalities?

Pregnant women who are older are more likely to experience chromosomal abnormalities than pregnant women who are young. This is because there are differences in the age of the eggs that are owned by older women and younger women.

Women are born with a number of eggs stored in their ovaries, in contrast to men who continue to make new sperm. The number of these eggs will not increase, instead they will decrease because each month the eggs will be released by the ovaries. If the egg is fertilized by sperm, pregnancy will occur. Meanwhile, if it is not fertilized, menstruation will occur.

These eggs will mature and be released starting from puberty. As you get older, of course the number of eggs will decrease and the age of a woman's eggs follows the age of the owner. If a woman is 25 years old, then the egg is also 25 years old. If a woman is 40 years old, her eggs are also 40 years old.

Many experts believe that chromosomal abnormalities can occur due to aging in the egg and possibly because the egg has the wrong number of chromosomes at fertilization. Eggs that are older are more prone to errors during the division process meiosis or mitosis. Thus, women who are pregnant at old age (more than 35 years) have a greater risk of experiencing chromosomal abnormalities.

If you are pregnant at the age of 35 years or more, you should routinely have your pregnancy checked by a gynecologist. You can also test for chromosomal abnormalities on the baby before birth, such as an amniocentesis test or chorionic villus sampling (CVS).

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