14 DAY TRIAL // Tourette's Syndrome is a disorder that has been oftentimes presented as a condition in which people cannot control what they are saying. But the reality is far from that. Most patients suffer from verbal tics and make unwanted movements, such as excessive blinking, or various patterns of facial expressions in close sequence to each other. Analyzing the causes for this condition is fairly difficult, researchers say, but every once in a while they get a lucky break.
Such was recently the case, when analysis of a very peculiar family, in which nine members suffer from the condition, revealed the existence of a mutated gene that may play an important part in the development of symptoms associated with this condition. While the research team behind the study admits that the findings will most likely not apply to all Tourette's sufferers, they explain that the very nature of the mechanism involved is puzzling. In other words, they add, scientists never thought about attempting to discover potential causes for the condition in the manner hinted by this gene.
Much of the recent investigations conducted on Tourette's Syndrome have been focused on analyzing a region of the human cortex called the basal ganglia. The area is believed to play an important role in controlling repetitive behaviors, which are a hallmark of this condition. In addition, other studies have looked more closely at the role that the neurotransmitter dopamine plays in promoting the emergence of symptoms. But the truth is that little is known about the origins of this disorder. It was discovered some 125 years ago, by Georges Gilles de la Tourette, who was a famed French neurologist.
The team that conducted the new study is also responsible for a 2005 research that yielded signs of the first gene potentially involved with Tourette's, called SLITRK1. Now, the same group, based at the Yale University School of Medicine, and led by child psychiatrist and geneticist Matthew State, proposes that a mutation in the gene HDC, which encodes for the enzyme L-histidine decarboxylase, may also be involved in triggering the development of the disorder. Details of the recent investigation appear in the latest issue of the highly-regarded scientific publication The New England Journal of Medicine, ScienceNow reports.