Spina bifida
Spina bifida is the most common defect impacting the Central Nervous System (CNS). The most common and most severe form of Spina Bifida is Myelomeningocele. Individuals with Myelomeningocele are born with an incompletely fused spine, and therefore exposing the spinal cord through an opening in the back. In general, the higher the spinal lesion, the greater the functional impairment to the individual. Symptoms may include bowel and bladder problems, weakness and/or loss of sensation below the level of the lesion, paralysis, or orthopedic issues. Severity of symptoms can vary per situation. Cauda equina syndrome
Cauda equina syndrome is a rare syndrome that effects the spinal nerves in the region of the lower back called the cauda equine (Latin for "horses tail"). Injury to the cauda equine can have long lasting ramifications for the individual. Symptoms include lower back pain, bladder disturbances, bowel dysfunction, and anesthesia or paresthesia between the thighs. In order to prevent progressive neurological changes surgery can be a viable option. Tumors
A spinal tumor is when unusual tissue begins growing and spreading in the spinal columns or spinal cords. The unusual tissue builds up from abnormal cells that multiply quickly in a specific region. Tumors generally are broken down into categories known as benign, meaning non-cancerous, or malignant, meaning cancerous, and also primary or secondary. Primary spinal tumors begin in either the spinal cord or spinal column, whereas secondary spinal tumors begin elsewhere and spread to the spinal region.
Giving progesterone has not been shown to halt medication abortion, and not completing the combination regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol may cause serious bleeding.In those who continue pregnancy after use of mifepristone together with misoprostol for termination, birth defects may occur. Exposure to a single large dose of mifepristone in newborn rats was not associated with any reproductive problems, although chronic low-dose exposure of newborn rats to mifepristone was associated with structural and functional reproductive abnormalities. Studies in mice, rats, and rabbits revealed developmental abnormalities for rabbits, but not rats or mice. Pharmacology
Pharmacodynamics
Mifepristone is a steroidal antiprogestogen (IC50 = 0.025 nM for the PR), as well as an antiglucocorticoid (IC50 = 2.2 nM for the GR) and antiandrogen (IC50 = 10 nM for the AR) to a much lesser extent. It antagonizes cortisol action competitively at the receptor level.In the presence of progesterone, mifepristone acts as a competitive progesterone receptor antagonist (in the absence of progesterone, mifepristone acts as a partial agonist). Mifepristone is a 19-nor steroid with a bulky p-(dimethylamino) phenyl substituent above the plane of the molecule at the 11β-position responsible for inducing or stabilizing an inactive receptor conformation and a hydrophobic 1-propynyl substituent below the plane of the molecule at the 17α-position that increases its progesterone receptor binding affinity.In addition to being an antiprogestogen, mifepristone is also an antiglucocorticoid and a weak antiandrogen.