The neurobiological basis of psychogenic movement disorders remains poorly understood and the management of these conditions difficult. Functional neuroimaging studies have provided some insight into the pathophysiology of disorders implicating particularly the prefrontal cortex, but there are no studies on psychogenic dystonia, and comparisons with findings in organic counterparts are rare. To...

Early-onset dystonia is an autosomal dominant movement disorder associated with deletion of a glutamic acid residue in torsinA. We generated four independent lines of transgenic mice by overexpressing human DeltaE-torsinA using a neuron specific enolase promoter. The transgenic mice developed abnormal involuntary movements with dystonic-appearing, self-clasping of limbs, as early as 3 weeks aft...

Presently, 17 distinct monogenic primary dystonias referred to as dystonias 1- 4, 5a,b, 6-8, 10-13 and 15-18 (loci DYT 1-4, 5a,b, 6-8, 10-13, 15-18) have been recognized. Twelve forms are inherited as autosomal dominant, four as autosomal recessive and one as an X-linked recessive trait. Three additional autosomal dominant forms (DYT9, DYT19 and DYT20) might exist based on linkage mapping to re...

Stamen primordia transform into slender filaments bearing pollen-laden anthers in a series of well-defined developmental steps (Goldberg et al., 1993; Scott et al., 2004). During anther stages 1-7, anther morphology is established, cell specification and differentiation occur, and microspore mother cells undergo meiosis (Sanders et al., 1999). At anther stages 8-14, pollen grains differentiate,...

Most cases of early onset DYT1 dystonia in humans are caused by a GAG deletion in the TOR1A gene leading to loss of a glutamic acid (ΔE) in the torsinA protein, which underlies a movement disorder associated with neuronal dysfunction without apparent neurodegeneration. Mutation/deletion of the gene (Dst) encoding dystonin in mice results in a dystonic movement disorder termed dystonia musculoru...