Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0025362 (mental retardation)
 15,878 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Norrie disease is a human X-linked recessive disorder of unknown etiology characterized by congenital blindness, sensory neural deafness and mental retardation. This disease gene was previously linked to the DXS7 (L1.28) locus and the MAO genes in band Xp11.3. We report here fine physical mapping of the obligate region containing the Norrie disease gene (NDP) defined by a recombination and by the smallest submicroscopic chromosomal deletion associated with Norrie disease identified to date. Analysis, using in addition two overlapping YAC clones from this region, allowed orientation of the MAOA and MAOB genes in a 5'-3'-3'-5' configuration. A recombination event between a (GT)n polymorphism in intron 2 of the MAOB gene and the NDP locus, in a family previously reported to have a recombination between DXS7 and NDP, delineates a flanking marker telomeric to this disease gene. An anonymous DNA probe, dc12, present in one of the YACs and in a patient with a submicroscopic deletion which includes MAOA and MAOB but not L1.28, serves as a flanking marker centromeric to the disease gene. An Alu-PCR fragment from the right arm of the MAO YAC (YMAO.AluR) is not deleted in this patient and also delineates the centromeric extent of the obligate disease region. The apparent order of these loci is telomere ... DXS7-MAOA-MAOB-NDP-dc12-YMAO.AluR ... centromere. Together these data define the obligate region containing the NDP gene to a chromosomal segment less than 150 kb.
 ...
PMID:The Norrie disease gene maps to a 150 kb region on chromosome Xp11.3. 130 Nov 61

The comparison of 32 immature infants with mental retardation of various degree (based on the results of clinical, immunological and biochemical examinations) with full-term infants with analogous pathology showed in the former group a high incidence (82.8%) of cerebral antibodies to antigens of the homo- and heterological brain in the complement consumption test. Therapeutic measures helped to reduce neuroimmune changes while the presence of antibodies to the homologous brain remained stable. Using data on the excretion of vanillyl amygdalic and homovanillic acids, the authors established alterations in catecholamine catabolism as well as in the activity of serum amine oxidase, which depended on the degree of mental retardation. Changes in individual components of catecholamine metabolism were found to correlate with neuroimmune shifts. The data obtained point to the presence of changes in biogenic amine metabolism and in immunological processes in mentally retarded children, which are very likely to be caused by immaturity at birth.
 ...
PMID:[Clinico-pathogenetic correlations in intellectual deficiency in premature infants]. 403 16

In this work, we examined platelet MAO activity in 25 children with various neurological disorders and compared them with 30 control subjects. We found that platelet MAO activity changed in children with headache and very little in children with epilepsy and mental retardation. It is very difficult to interpret these results; therefore further works are needed to clarify platelet enzymatic activities.
 ...
PMID:[Platelet monoamine oxidase activity in some neurological diseases of childhood]. 729 2

The Norrie disease and MAO genes are tandemly arranged in the p11.4-p11.3 region of the human X chromosome in the order tel-MAOA-MAOB-NDP-cent. This relationship is conserved in the mouse in the order tel-MAOB-MAOA-NDP-cent. The MAO genes appear to have arisen by tandem duplication of an ancestral MAO gene, but their positional relationship to NDP appears to be random. Distinctive X-linked syndromes have been described for mutations in the MAOA and NDP genes, and in addition, individuals have been identified with contiguous gene syndromes due to chromosomal deletions which encompass two or three of these genes. Loss of function of the NDP gene causes a syndrome of congenital blindness and progressive hearing loss, sometimes accompanied by signs of CNS dysfunction, including variable mental retardation and psychiatric symptoms. Other mutations in the NDP gene have been found to underlie another X-linked eye disease, exudative vitreo-retinopathy. An MAOA deficiency state has been described in one family to date, with features of altered amine and amine metabolite levels, low normal intelligence, apparent difficulty in impulse control and cardiovascular difficulty in affected males. A contiguous gene syndrome in which all three genes are lacking, as well as other as yet unidentified flanking genes, results in severe mental retardation, small stature, seizures and congenital blindness, as well as altered amine and amine metabolites. Issues that remain to be resolved are the function of the NDP gene product, the frequency and phenotype of the MAOA deficiency state, and the possible occurrence and phenotype of an MAOB deficiency state.
 ...
PMID:Norrie disease and MAO genes: nearest neighbors. 854 72

Norrie disease (ND) is an X-linked recessive disorder causing ocular atrophy, mental retardation, deafness, and dysmorphic features. Virtually absent monoamine oxidase (MAO) type-A and -B activity has been found in some boys with chromosome deletions. We report the coexistence of cataplexy and abnormal REM sleep organization with ND. Three related boys, referred for treatment of medically refractory atonic spells and apneas, underwent extended EEG-video-polysomnographic monitoring. They demonstrated attacks of cataplexy and inappropriate periods of REM sleep during which they were unarousable. One boy also had generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Previous testing revealed that all three have complete ND gene deletions. In all subjects, platelet MAO-B activity was absent, serum serotonin levels were markedly increased, and plasma catecholamine levels were normal. Data from the canine narcolepsy syndrome model implicate abnormal catecholaminergic and cholinergic activities in the pathogenesis of cataplexy. Our findings suggest that abnormal MAO activity or an imbalance between serotonin and other neurotransmitter levels may be involved in the pathogenesis of human cataplexy.
 ...
PMID:Cataplexy and monoamine oxidase deficiency in Norrie disease. 862 63

During the 1960's, reports suggesting the existence of multiple forms of monoamine oxidase (MAO) appeared with increasing frequency. In July 1968, two reports appeared in the same issue of Biochemical Pharmacology that established the existence of MAO-A and MAO-B. This terminology was unanimously accepted at an international meeting on MAO in 1971. MAO-A preferentially deaminates serotonin (5HT) and is selectively inhibited by harmine and clorgyline, while MAO-B preferentially deaminates phenethylamine and benzylamine, and is selectively inhibited by (-)deprenyl as well as low concentrations of pargyline. It was later found that MAO-A and MAO-B are encoded by separate genes. The two genes have identical exon-intron organizations, but differ with respect to their promoters. In humans both genes are located very close together on the short arm of the X chromosome (Xp21-p11). In mice, the MAO-A gene is also located on the X chromosome, but the chromosomal locations of the MAO-A and -B genes for other species appear to be unknown at present. Some degree of polymorphism seem to exist in both genes. Both forms probably occur naturally as homodimers in the mitochondrial outer membrane, raising the possibility of 3 variants of both MAO-A and -B in human females that are heterozygous for alleles at each locus. Highly specific antibodies for MAO-A and -B, respectively, have been produced, and immunohistochemical studies show that the two forms are differentially expressed in different cell types. In rat and primate brain MAO-A is restricted to catecholamine neurons, while MAO-B is largely restricted to serotonin neurons and astrocytes. Congenital lack of MAO-A is associated with mental retardation, impulsive aggressive behavior and other behavioral/neurological disorders. These results support the conclusion that both MAO-A and -B play predominantly protective roles in the organism.
 ...
PMID:[Discovery of monoamine oxidase forms A and B]. 950 61

Mutations at the Norrie disease gene locus, NDP, manifest in a broad range of defects. These range from a relatively mild, late-onset, exudative vitreoretinopathy to congenital blindness and sensorineural deafness combined, in some cases, with mental retardation. In addition, extensive deletions involving the NDP locus, located at Xp11.3, the adjacent monoamine oxidadase genes MAOA and MAOB, and additional material, result in a more severe pattern of symptoms. The phenotypes include all or some of the following; mental retardation, involuntary movements, hypertensive crises and hypogonadism. We extended an existing YAC contig to embrace the boundaries of three of the largest deletions and converted this into four PAC contigs. Computer analysis and experimental data have resulted in the identification of several putative loci, including a phosphatase inhibitor 2-like gene (dJ154.1) and a 250-bp sequence which resembles a homeobox domain (dA113.3), 1.2 Mb and 400 kb respectively from the MAO/NDP cluster. The pattern of expression of dJ154.1 suggests that it may represent an important factor contributing to the complex phenotypes of these deletion patients. Hum Mutat 17:523, 2001.
 ...
PMID:Sequence analysis and transcript identification within 1.5 MB of DNA deleted together with the NDP and MAO genes in atypical Norrie disease patients presenting with a profound phenotype. 1138 15

Although it is assumed that genes that influence cognitive function are ubiquitous in the human genome, to date, more such genes have been found on the X chromosome than on any other comparable segment of the autosomes. This is in large measure because of the power of hemizygosity in exposing mutations of X-linked genes in males. Clinical manifestations, mapping of gene loci by linkage analysis or chromosome rearrangements, and gene identification by positional cloning or mutational analysis of candidate genes have permitted extensive lumping and splitting within the large and heterogeneous category of X-linked mental retardation (XLMR). Approximately 130 XLMR syndromes have been identified, 25 gene loci have been mapped and cloned, and 55 other loci have been mapped but not cloned. Well-recognized syndromes (e.g., Fragile X and Coffin-Lowry syndromes) and syndromes represented by only a single family (e.g., Arena and monoamine oxidase-A syndromes) are among these more or less well-defined entities. In addition, more than 75 families with nonsyndromal XLMR have been regionally mapped and 7 causative genes have been identified.
 ...
PMID:Splitting and lumping in the nosology of XLMR. 1144 85