Cri Du Chat Syndrome

1173 Words5 Pages
Cri Du Chat Syndrome [pic] Occasionally chromosomal material is lost or rearranged during the formation of gametes or during cell division. This may be due to translocation or nondisjunction. Cri du chat is one of the most common syndromes caused by chromosomal deletion, affecting between one in twenty-thousand and one in fifty-thousand children. Eighty-percent of children affected by the syndrome experience chromosome deletion that comes from their father's sperm. When these deletions in the child's chromosomes occur during the formation of sperm or an egg, it is caused by an unequal recombination during meiosis. Recombination usually happens between pairs of chromosomes during meiosis while there are lined up at the metaphase plate. If the pairs of chromosomes do not line up as they should, or if the chromosome breaks are not repaired appropriately, the structure of the chromosome may be altered. When unequal recombination happens at this location on chromosome five – the result is Cri du chat syndrome. [pic] Cri du Chat Syndrome (CCS) was discovered in 1963 by Dr. Jerome Lejeune. CCS is an autosomal deletion syndrome caused by a mutation during development or in the formation of reproductive cells. CCS is rarely inherited and affected individuals usually have no history of CCS in their family. The most common symptom is a high-pitched cry that sounds like a cat, which is why the name means “Cat’s cry.” The cry is caused by an abnormal development of a child’s larynx when they have the syndrome, that commonly becomes noticeable as they become older, which can make it more difficult for a doctor to diagnose Cri du chat past the age of two. The syndrome is caused by a deletion on the short arm of chromosome five. A number of genes are missing due to the deletion, and each can contribute to the symptoms the child experiences. One of

More about Cri Du Chat Syndrome

Open Document