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Congenital heart defects (CHD) include structural abnormalities of the heart or/and great vessels that are present at birth. CHD affects around 1% of all newborns worldwide. Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is the most prevalent cyanotic congenital cardiac abnormality, affecting three out of every 10,000 live infants with a prevalence rate of 5-10% of all congenital cardiac defects. The four hallmark characteristics of TOF are: right ventricular hypertrophy, pulmonary stenosis, ventricular septal defect, and overriding aorta. Approximately 20% of cases of TOF are associated with a known disease or chromosomal abnormality, with the remaining 80% of TOF cases being non-syndromic, with no known aetiology. Relatively few TOF patients have been studied, and little is known about critical causative genes for non-syndromic TOF. However, rare genetic variants have been identified as significant risk factors for CHD, and are likely to cause some cases of TOF. Therefore, this review aims to provide an update on well-characterized genes and the most recent variants identified for non-syndromic TOF., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Althali and Hentges.)

The aims of this study were to determine the polyphone content of grape seed extract (GSE) and to assess their protective effects against zearalenone (ZEN)-induced maternal toxicity and in utero development defects in mice. Five groups of pregnant mice were treated orally during days 6-13 of gestation as follows: control group, corn oil as vehicle (0.1 ml/mice)-treated group, ZEN-treated group (25 mg/kg b.w), GSE-treated group (150 mg/kg b.w.), and ZEN plus GSE-treated group. All animals were sacrificed on the 19th day of gestation and samples of bone marrow were collected for the micronucleus assay. The maternal and developmental toxicity were carried out. The HPLC analyses revealed that GES is rich in gallic acid, syringic acid, vanillin, quercetin, and coumaric acid. ZEN administration resulted in severe maternal and developmental toxicity which included an increase of micronuclei formation in bone marrow, decreased maternal weight gain, and litter weight. It also induces fetal growth retardation, increased number of the aborted dams and resorbed fetuses, abnormality of fetal bone ossification, and number of fetuses with a hematoma. GSE showed positive effects on the pregnant mice and the developing fetuses. Moreover, it counteracted the detrimental effects of ZEN in dams and fetuses. It could be concluded that polyphenols in GSE are a promising candidate to protect against ZEN toxicity in highly endemic areas.