A new stem cell model of Angelman syndrome delivers evidence for three molecular mechanisms underlying the condition — and one potential treatment. Researchers presented the unpublished results today at the 2016 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.
The study found that the primary genetic cause of the syndrome, deletion of the UBE3A gene, short-circuits electrical activity in developing neurons. And faulty electrical activity may prevent the cells from forging and maintaining connections, or synapses, with neighboring neurons.
Read more about this new clue to the neurological basis for Angelman syndrome here.