Down syndrome reversed in newborn mice with single injection


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Down syndrome reversed in newborn mice with single injection

 

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Photo Scientists injected mice with a molecule designed to boost normal growth of the brain and body.

 

US researchers have found a way to reverse Down syndrome in newborn lab mice by injecting an experimental compound that causes the brain to grow normally.

The study, published in the Science Translational Medicine journal, offers no direct link to a treatment for humans but scientists are hopeful it may offer a path towards future breakthroughs.

There is no cure for Down syndrome, which is caused by the presence of an additional chromosome and results in intellectual disabilities, distinctive facial features and other health problems.

The team at Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, in Baltimore, used lab mice that were genetically engineered to have extra copies of about half the genes found on human chromosome 21, leading to Down syndrome-like conditions such as smaller brains and difficulty learning to navigate a maze.

On the day the mice were born, scientists injected them with a small molecule known as a sonic hedgehog pathway agonist.

 

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so, what happened if those were injected to non-down syndrome?

increased intelligence?

 

Are you saying that people with Down Syndrome are stupid?

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Are you saying that people with Down Syndrome are stupid?

One of the symptoms of Down Syndrome is impaired brain development that causes intellectually disability, routinely resulting in IQs averaging in the 50s. So technically, yes they're "stupid". 

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