[Source:  Medical X-Press]

Professor Juan Lerma’s group, from the UMH-CSIC Institute of Neurosciences, in Alicante (Spain), has identified the gene called GRIK1, fundamental in the balance between excitation and inhibition in the brain, as one of the causes for people with Down syndrome having spatial orientation problems.

The GRIK1 gene is located on chromosome 21, which is triplicated in people with Down syndrome, who therefore have a higher of dose of many genes. This particular gene plays a very important role in communication between neurons, regulating the release of the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, called GABA.

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