Description | Aminopterin Syndrome Sine Aminopterin (ASSA, OMIM 600325) is an embryopathy caused by maternal treatment with the olic acid antagonist aminopterin has been recognized since 1952 when aminopterin was used as an abortifacient. The characteristic phenotype of the children who survived infancy after having been exposed to aminopterin or its methyl derivative, methotrexate, in early pregnancy included a very unusual facies, skull anomalies, and skeletal defects.(OMIM);
Aminopterin is an antimetabolite drug used in treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. It acts by inhibiting the metabolism of folic acid. - Wikipedia. The effects of the drug on intracellular metabolic processes, due to the inhibitory action on the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase, show that the result of this inhibition is more complex and is not limited to blockade of the reduction of folic acid alone. Although rescue methods are important in prevention of lethal effects of methotrexate, some metabolic pathways are insufficiently rescued, resulting in toxic reactions following methotrexate administration.(PMID 6398629)
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