What are the interactions between altered placental function and neurodisability? In this book a team of experts give detailed accounts of placental lesions that affect normal structure and function to show how impaired placental function may contribute to deviant fetal growth and altered brain development. They outline the processes that lead to brain injury, and show the extent to which such early effects on brain development lead to disability in later childhood. Chapters focus on the specific transporter systems located in the placental syncytiotrophoblast that protect the fetus from drugs and xenobiotics in the maternal circulation. They also look at the animal models used to study causes of fetal brain damage, and the interactions between fetal genes and the uterine environment that predispose to the development of schizophrenia in adult life.