A tale of mice and men and how brains develop

The paths of two genes associated with brain development may not only cross, they may run the same course, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in a report in this month's issue of the journal Nature Genetics.

The finding involving RELN and PAFAH1B1 (or LIS1) has profound implications for the way the brain develops and ultimately for diseases such as epilepsy, mental retardation, schizophrenia and autism, said Dr. Gary Clark, an associate professor of pediatrics and neurology at Baylor. He is also a researcher at Baylor's Gordon and Mary Cain Pediatric Neurology Research Foundation Laboratories housed at Texas Children's Hospital.

This is the first time that a mouse and human disease have really come together, said Clark, who collaborated Dr. Gabriella D'Arcangelo and others at Baylor as well as scientists at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and the University of California, San Diego.

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