维生素A（vitamin A,VA）是一组具有全反式视黄醇生物活性的脂溶性维生素。孕妇是维生素A缺乏（vitamin A deficiency, VAD）的易感人群。VA除了参与视觉、免疫、皮肤表皮、生殖系统等的正常功能外，还广泛分布于脑组织中，有助于发育中的神经系统内神经祖细胞的模式生成和分化。孕期VA的活性代谢产物视黄酸对子代脑发育有非常重要的作用。该文回顾妊娠期VAD的既往文献，总结诱发妊娠期VAD的影响因素，根据相关的人群和动物研究结果总结妊娠期VAD对子代神经发育的影响；并从对子代胚层发育、脑结构发育、海马神经元的突触传递和生物钟的影响等多角度综述妊娠期VAD对子代神经发育影响的可能机制。

Vitamin A (VA) is a fat-soluble vitamin with all-trans-retinoic biological activities. In addition to maintaining the normal functions of the eye, skin, immune, and reproductive systems, VA is also widely distributed in brain tissues, and important to the generation and differentiation of neural progenitor cells in the developing nervous system. Pregnant women are susceptible to vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Retinoic acid, the active form of VA, is very important to the brain development of offspring. This article reviews the literatures of maternal VAD during pregnancy, summarizing the risk factors of maternal VAD during pregnancy, and the research findings of the effects of maternal VAD during pregnancy on offspring neurodevelopment based on both human studies and animal experiments, and the possible underlying mechanisms by which maternal VAD affects the development of embryonic layers, brain structures, hippocampal synaptic transmission, and the biological clock in offspring.