Introduction Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social and communication deficits restricted repetitive or stereotyped behaviours. The prevalence of ASD has been thought to be higher in men, which may reflect aspects the own aetiology disorder. Still, it also associated with misdiagnosis missed diagnosis females autism due specific phenotypic traits...

A considerable number of cognitive processes depend on the integration of multisensory information. The brain integrates this information, providing a complete representation of our surrounding world and giving us the ability to react optimally to the environment. Infancy is a period of great changes in brain structure and function that are reflected by the increase of processing capacities of ...

Understanding the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders has proven to be challenging. Using autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as a paradigmatic neurodevelopmental disorder, this article reviews the existing literature on the etiological substrates of ASD and explores how genetic epidemiology approaches including gene-environment interactions (G×E) can play a role in identifying factors asso...

The susceptibility genes for schizophrenia Neuregulin-1 (NRG1) and ErbB4 have critical functions during brain development and in the adult. Alterations in the ErbB4 signaling pathway cause a variety of neurodevelopmental defects including deficiencies in neuronal migration, synaptic plasticity, and myelination. I have used the ErbB4(-/-) HER4(heart) KO mice to study the neurodevelopmental insul...

To date, the pathogenesis of schizophrenia remains poorly under stood. However, neurodevelopmental theories have been used to explain this complex disorder, as converging lines of evi dence suggest abnormal trajectory of brain development as a key pathological process.1 To understand the pathogenesis through a neurodevelopmental lens, sex differences observed between men and women, including ag...

Post-mortem analysis has revealed reduced levels of the protein dysbindin in the brains of those suffering from the neurodevelopmental disorder schizophrenia. Consequently, mechanisms controlling the cellular levels of dysbindin and its interacting partners may participate in neurodevelopmental processes impaired in that disorder. To address this question, we studied loss of function mutations ...

We have only just begun to decipher the complexity of our brain, including its maturation. Correct brain development and communication among brain areas are crucial for proper cognitive behavior. Brain area-specific genes expressed within a particular time window direct neurodevelopmental events such as proliferation, migration, axon guidance, dendritic arborization, and synaptogenesis. These g...