"SCN2A related autism and epilepsy: From mouse model to iPSCs model"
Abstract
Large-scale human genetic studies have identified Scn2a as one of the leading monogenic causes of autism. Scn2a encodes the voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.2, a main mediator of neuronal action potential firing. The current paradigm suggests that Nav1.2 gain-of-function variants enhance neuronal excitability, resulting in epilepsy, whereas Nav1.2 deficiency impairs neuronal excitability, contributing to autism. However, this paradigm does not explain why ∼20%–30% of individuals with Nav1.2 deficiency still develop seizures. Here in this talk, I will discuss our recent work using the gene-trap Scn2a deficient mouse model as well as human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) carrying Scn2a mutation to understand Scn2a-related autism and epilepsy.
https://www.mcmp.purdue.edu/faculty/yang1497
