• Home
  • Contact Us!
  • Privacy Policy

Radio Metta

  • Home
  • Business
  • Education
  • Health
  • Home Deco
  • News
  • Real Estate
  • Technology
  • Contact Us!
  • Privacy Policy
Home» Health»Study with mice may lead to treatment for stuttering

Study with mice may lead to treatment for stuttering

Saheli 17 Apr 2016 Health Comments Off on Study with mice may lead to treatment for stuttering 373 Views

ST. LOUIS, April 15 — Although stuttering has baffled scientists for centuries, researchers think they’ve pinned the primary cause down to a genetic mutation, which they say could eventually lead to a treatment for the condition.

Stuttering is biological in origin, though can be made worse by anxiety or stress, researchers at the Washington School of Medicine found in experiments with mice engineered to have a genetic mutation thought to be involved with the condition.

The study revealed the lack of randomness inherent to stuttering while comparing mice with and without a mutation to a gene called Gnptab.

How the gene relates to speech is unknown, because Gnptab is involved mostly with degrading molecules inside of cells, but mutations to Gnptab also have been linked to other metabolic diseases. In the mice bred to have the mutation, no other effects were found aside from stuttering.

“One of the things we find scientifically interesting about stuttering is that it is so precisely limited to speech,” Dr. Tim Holy, an associate professor of neuroscience at the Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis, said in a press release. “It’s a very clean defect in an incredibly complex task.”

For the study, published in the journal Current Biology, researchers bred mice with mutations to the Gnptab gene that stuttered when making sounds comparable to human speech, but with no other conditions as a result of the mutation, comparing them to mice without the mutation.

Using a computer algorithm to analyze the length of pauses in spontaneous noises made by baby mice, the researchers found those with the mutation had longer pauses between noises than those without it.

The algorithm was then applied to people, finding it could distinguish between those who do and those who do not stutter, while also finding mice and people who stutter both repeated the same syllables more often in a somewhat predictable manner.

The scientists say further research will focus on how the mutation affects the complex process of speech, as well as whether the mutation’s effects can be mitigated in some way.

“It’s kind of crazy that this gene that’s involved in digesting the garbage in your cells is somehow linked to something so specific as stuttering,” Holy said. “It could be that the protein has many functions and this mutation affects only one of them. Or the mutation could very mildly compromise the function of the protein, but there’s a set of cells in the brain that is exquisitely sensitive, and if you ever so slightly compromise the function in those cells you get the observable behavioral deficit.”

[Source:- UPI]

for lead may mice study stuttering to treatment With 2016-04-17
Tags for lead may mice study stuttering to treatment With
Facebook Twitter Stumble linkedin Pinterest More

Authors

Posted by : Saheli
Previous Article :

Study finds women who live in greener areas live longer

Next Article :

What It Really Takes to Read

Related Articles

Anatomy, Function, and Common Injuries of Hamstring Muscles

Anatomy, Function, and Common Injuries of Hamstring Muscles

admin 12 Aug 2025
Quitting vaping: the health reasons why you should give up vaping

Quitting vaping: the health reasons why you should give up vaping

admin 30 Jul 2025
Acidity Problems?  21 Home Remedies That Can Be Beneficial

Acidity Problems? 21 Home Remedies That Can Be Beneficial

admin 06 Jun 2025

Latest Post

Anatomy, Function, and Common Injuries of Hamstring Muscles
Health

Anatomy, Function, and Common Injuries of Hamstring Muscles

admin 12 Aug 2025
Gaming Your Way to Sharper AI Prompts
Technology

Gaming Your Way to Sharper AI Prompts

admin 07 Aug 2025
15 Elegant Living Room Hanging Lights
Home Deco

15 Elegant Living Room Hanging Lights

admin 04 Aug 2025
115 Ideas for Real Estate Blogs: How to Make the Most of Your Online Presence and Get Leads
Real Estate

115 Ideas for Real Estate Blogs: How to Make the Most of Your Online Presence and Get Leads

admin 02 Aug 2025
Quitting vaping: the health reasons why you should give up vaping
Health

Quitting vaping: the health reasons why you should give up vaping

admin 30 Jul 2025
5 tips for getting started with Flow
Uncategorized

5 tips for getting started with Flow

admin 26 Jun 2025
Acidity Problems?  21 Home Remedies That Can Be Beneficial
Health

Acidity Problems? 21 Home Remedies That Can Be Beneficial

admin 06 Jun 2025
August 2025
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Jul    
  • Home
  • Contact Us!
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright 2016, All Rights Reserved
Magazine Blog News WordPress Theme