• Question: Why did tholydamide cause the underdevelopment of limbs???

    Asked by methanebubble to Cathal, Daphne, Darren, Jon, Katherine on 13 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Darren Logan

      Darren Logan answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      It seems that thalidomide gets into the cells of your body and kills blood vessels. These blood vessels provide nutrients to our arms and legs and helps them grow. So when pregnant women took thalidomide, the blood vessels in the babies limbs didn’t grow properly so the limbs didn’t develop.

      Its not completely understood how thalidomide kills the blood vessels, but a few years ago scientists found a protein that seems to bind to thalidomide. Its called “cereblon” and it seems to be involved in controlling limb develoment. The scientists are now trying to work out whether the binding of thalidomide to cereblon is what causes the blood vessels to die.

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