Acknowledgements
The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) and is used under licence.Course image: NIH Image Gallery in Flickr made available under Creative Commons...
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Blakemore, C. and Cooper, A. (1970) Development of the brain depends on visual environment, Nature, 228, pp. 477–8.Caspi, A., McClay, J., Moffitt, T. E., Mill, J., Martin, J., Craig, I. W., Taylor, A....
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View ArticleEnd of course questions
Question 1Explain your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with each of the following sentences.(a) If a disease has a genetic basis and someone has the (abnormal) alleles for the disease, then that...
View Article10 Course summary
The course began by considering what factors contribute to individual differences. The case was made, with the spiders, and later with genetic diseases, that the genome was very important. Subsequent...
View Article9.4 Summary of Section 9
This section has illustrated what has to be done, by way of a long-term study, to yield meaningful information on the relationship between genes and development and the behaviour of the organism. It...
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9.3 Monoamine oxidase A, maltreatment during childhood and later violence
One Dutch family was found to have a history of antisocial (aggressive) behaviour. Genetic studies were conducted and a potential culprit gene MAOA, monoamine oxidase A, identified. The aggressive...
View Article9.2 Antisocial behaviour disease
The psychological arena is hugely complex because there are additional issues of responsibility and treatment. Briefly, society takes a more lenient attitude towards the behaviour of someone who is ill...
View Article9.1 The psychological arena
The examples in the previous section followed the traditional medical approach, namely that there is a disease, it can be diagnosed (identified), and the cause of the disease, be it viruses, bacteria,...
View Article8.5 Summary of Section 8
Genes do influence development. However, genes do not always determine the developmental path. The prognosis for Wilson's disease is very good, because environmental intervention is possible. The...
View Article8.4 Fragile X syndrome
Fragile X syndrome is the final example of a genetic disease considered here.Activity 21What does the term ‘genetic disease’ mean? AnswerGenetic disease means that the symptoms of the disease are...
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8.3 Lissencephaly
Lissencephaly, literally meaning ‘smooth brain’, is characterised by the absence of sulci and gyri, and by a four-layered cortex, instead of the usual six layers, with the majority of cortical neurons...
View Article8.2 Wilson's disease
The effects of a protein that is absent, or present but not doing its job, may not be evident for many years. This is called late onset, and is exemplified by Wilson's disease. Many molecules within...
View Article8.1 Genes and behaviour
In the preceding sections many different proteins have been mentioned. These proteins are the receptors, signals, channels, enzymes, transporters, structural components and transcription factors that...
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7.8 Summary of Section 7
This section has sought to illustrate the formation of connections between neurons and their targets by exploring a few examples. The picture that emerges is one of cells at different stages of...
View Article7.7 Neurogenesis
Brains contain within them the seeds of their own salvation and the seeds of their own destruction. In its early stages, the brain produces vast numbers of neuroblasts as stem cells divide at a huge...
View Article7.6 Synaptogenesis
The formation of synaptic connections is an essential property of nervous system development. Synapses are formed between neurons and also with targets that are not part of the nervous system, e.g....
View Article7.5 What do neurotrophins do?
Neurotrophins shut down the mechanism of apoptosis. Neurotrophins do this by attaching to receptors in the cell membrane of the innervating axon and activating a cascade of biochemical reactions. The...
View Article7.4 Elixirs of the nervous system: neurotrophins
According to Section 7.2 axons obtain an elixir from targets at their synapses.Confirmation that there is indeed an elixir came from a series of events that reveals how much of science really works....
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7.3 Selected to die: studies of the CNS
Recent evidence has revealed that during development in mice, cell death occurs in two phases. The first phase is at about E15–E17 days, during neuron proliferation, and will not be considered further...
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