Abnormal brain development

Abnormal Brain Development. In a certain sense, neurodegenerative disorders reside at the opposite end of the spectrum from the so-called neurodevelopmental diseases. These result from abnormal development of brain circuitry. The causes of... 

Stumpo DJ, Bock CB, Tuttle JS, et al MARCKS deficiency in mice leads to abnormal brain development and perinatal death. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 92 944-948, 1995... 

CT and MRI scans have demonstrated enlargement of the lateral ventricles and widened cortical sulci. This finding suggests that either there is brain atrophy or (more likely) that in some types of schizophrenia there has been abnormal brain development (see Weinberger 1996). 

The gene encoding the S-HTg receptor is located on human chromosome 7 at position 7q36 which is a locus containing also the mutation Holoprosencephaly type III that resvdts in abnormal brain development [7-8] and on mouse chromosome 5 at position 5B [7] (Table 1). 

The early years of electrophysiologic studies provided evidence for a number of associations between sleep characteristics and abnormal brain development. Autistic children show a delay in the development of sleep patterns (13). Unstable state patterns are present in premature infants (14). Children with Down syndrome (15) and those exposed pre-natally to alcohol (16) show deviations in sleep patterns. A more exhaustive review of the association between sleep characteristics and developmental outcome is provided by Thoman (1). 

Docosahexaenoic acid (22 6n-3, DHA) is essential for normal brain and retinal development (1). A 22 6n-3 deficiency is associated with impaired neurological functions, including reduced learning ability in rats (2,3), impaired visual acuity in infant monkeys (4), and abnormal brain development in human infants with Zellweger syndrome (ZS) (5,6). 

Mortality (40% in 6 days) reduced growth reduced kidney and liver weight abnormal skeletal development ALAD depression in all tissues examined elevated burdens (mg/kg fresh weight) in kidney (15), liver (6), and brain (3)... 

Folate play an important role in the biosynthesis of DNA bases and in amino acid metabolism. An adeguate intake of folate reduces the risk of abnormalities in early embryonic brain development, specifically the risk of malformations of the embryonic brain/spinal cord. Therefore a proper intake is strictly recommended for pregnant women. Megaloblastic anemia is the ultimate consequence of an inadequate folate intake. No adverse effects have been associated with the consumption of excess folate from foods [417]. 

If schizophrenia is caused by abnormal early brain development (cf. Figs. 10—15 and 10—16), it may be virtually impossible to reverse such abnormalities in adulthood. On the other hand, some day it may be possible to compensate for such postulated neurodevelopmental difficulties by other mechanisms or to interrupt an ongoing mechanism still present in the symptomatic patient. Therefore, it will be critical to learn what neurodevelopmental abnormalities may exist in schizophrenia in order to devise strategies for reducing their potential impact. It may even be possible to identify such abnormalities in presymptomatic individuals or to exploit the plasticity of adult neurons to compensate for neurodevelopmentally endowed dysfunction. These are bold and unsubstantiated theoretical extrapolations based on... 

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