Genetic Approaches to Developmental Neurobiology

The development of modern medicine has contributed to clarifying the etiology and treatment of various diseases as well as to improving public health and welfare, and basic biological research has discovered a great deal about the underlying mechanisms at work. However, there are still many diseases which remain mysterious and incurable, and biological processes which are still imperfectly understood. In order to promote research in medicine and biology, non-governmental funding, as well as government support, is very important. The Japan Medical Research Foundation has been in existence since October 1973 in order to meet such needs with aid from non-governmental financial sources. One of the Foundation's main activities is to hold annual symposia and seminars on various diseases and research problems. To elucidate the mechanisms of the development of the nervous system in mammals is one of the most challenging problems for researchers in the field of developmental biology. Are there any formulae in the develop ment of this complicated system? What factors are involved genetically and environmentally? Only a few questions have been answered so far.

Springer Book Archives

I. Early Development of Mammals.- Patterns of Cell Proliferation in the Preimplantation Mammalian Embryo.- The Analysis of Cell Lineages in the Postimplantation Mammalian Embryo.- Early Stages of Fertilization in vitro of Rabbit, Pig, Cattle and Human Eggs.- Early Development of Mouse Embryos Fertilized in vitro.- In vitro Culture of Human Follicular Oocytes.- II. Genetics of Mammalian Embryos.- Molecular Insight to the Mechanisms of Cell Adhesion in Relation with Early Mammalian Morphogenesis.- Genetic Influences on Teratocarcinogenesis in Mice.- Phenotypical Expression in Nude ? Normal Chimeric Mice.- Search for Transplantation Method Facilitating Establishment of Normal Diploid Teratocarcinomas from "Resistant" C57BL Mice.- The Use of Chimeric Rats in the Analysis of the Hooded Pigmentation Pattern.- Quail-Chick Chimeras, a Tool to Study the Development of the Peripheral Nervous System.- III. Mammalian Mutants.- Examples of Neuromuscular Mutations in the Mouse: Opportunities for an Understanding of Pathological Processes.- A Study of Myelin Deficiency in the Central Nervous System of Mice with Genetic Muscular Dystrophy.- Neurochemical Abnormalities of Snell Dwarf Mutant Mice.- Characteristics of a New Allele of Tottering Locus, Rolling (tgrol).- Analysis of CNS Development with Mutant Mice and Chimeras.- Immunohistochemical and Biochemical Analyses of Development of Nervous System of Mutant Mice (Reeler and Shiverer).- Mutations Affecting Myelination: Dynamics of CNS Myelin Markers in Normal and Dysmyelinating Mutant Mice.- Studies on Genetic Control of Myelinogenesis in Tissue Culture from Rat and Mouse Cerebella.- General Comments.