Boosting levels of a neurotransmitter in the brain may reverse some of the cognitive abnormalities that characterize Down syndrome, according to a study, published online today (November 18) in Science Translational Medicine, conducted in a mouse model of the disease.
"The work is really fascinating," said linkurl:Roger Reeves,;http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/geneticmedicine/People/Faculty/reeves.html a physiologist at Johns Hopkins Medical Institute who studies Down syndrome and was not involved in the research. "The study shows how to take the data from both human and animal model systems and turn them into potential molecules that can be used for therapy." Down syndrome, a genetic disorder triggered by a third copy of human chromosome 21, is the most common cause of mental retardation in children and leads to deficits in contextual learning and memory. To study the neurological basis for these deficits, linkurl:Ahmad Salehi;http://mobleylab.stanford.edu/ahmad.html and his colleagues at Stanford University School of...
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