Journal
TRENDS IN NEUROSCIENCES
Volume 29, Issue 7, Pages 349-358Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE LONDON
DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2006.05.010
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Our understanding of human disorders that affect higher cognitive functions has greatly advanced in recent decades, and over 20 genes associated with non-syndromic mental retardation have been identified during the past 15 years. However, proteins encoded by 'cognition genes' have such diverse neurodevelopmental functions that delineating specific pathogenetic pathways still poses a tremendous challenge. In this review, we summarize genetic, epigenetic and environmental contributions to neurodevelopmental alterations that either cause or confer vulnerability to autism, a disease primarily affecting social cognition. Taken together, these results begin to provide a unifying view of complex pathogenetic pathways that are likely to lead to autism spectrum disorders through altered neurite morphology, synaptogenesis and cell migration. This review is part of the INMED/TINS special issue Nature and nurture in brain development and neurological disorders, based on presentations at the annual INMED/TINS symposium (hftp://inmednet.com/).
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