Prof. Dr. Sohan Raj Tater
 | Fig. 44: One of the major areas in which molecular genetics will play an important role in the future is in complex disorders like schizophrenia and depression. The figure shows areas of increased blood flow (red hotspots) in the left amygdala and the medial orbital cortex of a person with familial, major depressive order. The molecular basis for this observation, and others like it, remain a challenge for the future. [Reproduced from Andreasen, NC (1997) Science 275, 1586-1593, with permission.] |
The brain and nervous system form an intricate network of electrical signals that are responsible for co-ordinating muscles, the senses, speech, memories, thoughts and emotions.
Several diseases that directly affect the nervous system have a genetic component, some are due to a mutation in a single gene and others are due to more complex mode of inheritance. Alzheimer brain plaques and the inclusion bodies found in Parkinson disease contain at least one common component, while Huntington disease, fragile X syndrome and spinocerebellar atrophy are all "dynamic mutation" disease in which there is an expansion of a several neurodegenerative diseases, as are other, specific, intracellular signaling events. The bio-synthesis of myelin and the regulation of cholesterol traffic also figure in Charcot-marie-tooth and Neimann-Pick disease, respectively.
Doctoral Thesis, JVBU