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Thank you for this submission. Summary: The size of the cerebellum in most people with Down syndrome is about 60% of normal. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Univ
by kjhughes 13y ago
Thank you for this submission.
Summary: The size of the cerebellum in most people with Down syndrome is about 60% of normal. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine were able to achieve normalized cerebellum growth in Down-syndrome-like mice by treating them with a sonic hedgehog pathway agonist at birth. Not only did this single shot normalize cerebellum size through adulthood, it also resulted in improved cognitive abilities usually associated with the hippocampus. These improvements may have been due to a strengthening of the communications between the cerebellum and the hippocampus, according to Roger Reeves, Ph.D., a professor in the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- guard-of-terra 13y agoWhat if they administer that to normal mice? Will they talk?
- noonespecial 13y agoThey may also escape from their cage each night and try to take over the world.
- alxndr 13y agoOr escape and move to a farm and create a tech utopia and help out widowed mice in their spare time? ( http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Frisby_and_the_Rats_of_NIMH http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Frisby_and_the_Rats_of_N... )
- cam_l 13y agoWow, seriously loved this book. takes me back. Thanks.
- icoder 13y agoThanks for the summary. So they're basically treating a (albeit important) symptom of the trisomy.
- ams6110 13y agoThat's my interpretation of it as well. They are not actually repairing the chromosomal abnormality, they are addressing its effects on brain development. So I presume a treated person would still have the physical appearance characteristics of Downs as well as the other health issues (I believe people with Downs syndrome are much more prone to heart disease or problems). I also wonder if the brain growth would be permanent (remembering Flowers for Algernon)