We report the first observation of parent-to-child transmission of dysgnathia, a rare disorder characterized by severe mandibular hypoplasia or agenesis, ear anomalies, microstomia, and microglossia. Patient 1 was noted prenatally by ultrasound to have severe micrognathia and, after birth, abnormal ears with canal stenosis and non-contiguous lobules located dorsally to the rest of the pinnae, normal zygomata, severe jaw immobility and microstomia with an opening of only 4 to 5 mm, hypoplastic tongue, and cleft palate. The 21-year-old mother of patient 1 was born with severe micrognathia requiring tracheostomy, microglossia, cleft palate with filiform alveolar bands, abnormal pinnae, and decreased conductive hearing. Dysgnathia is thought to result from a defect in the development of the first branchial arch. A similar phenotype has been seen in Otx2 haplo-insufficiency and endothelin-1 homozygous null mice, suggesting that these genes contribute to branchial arch development. Our report of a long-surviving mother and her daughter with non-syndromal dysgnathia may lead to identification of the molecular basis of these findings and provide insight into the genetics of first branchial arch formation. The survival of patient 1 and patient 2 beyond the neonatal period has implications for improvements in prenatal diagnosis and counseling and for neonatal treatment of this condition.

Axons of the mammalian peripheral and central nervous systems degenerate after nerve injury. We have recently found that He-Ne laser irradiation may prevent some of the consequences of the injury in peripheral nerves of mammals. In the present study, the efficacy of the laser in treating injured neurons of the mammalian CNS was tested. Optic nerves of adult rabbits were exposed daily for 8-14 days to He-Ne laser irradiation (14 min, 15 mW) through the overlying muscles and skin. As a result of this treatment, the injured nerves maintained their histological integrity, which is invariably lost in injured mammalian CNS neurons.

We report the first observation of parent-to-child transmission of dysgnathia, a rare disorder characterized by severe mandibular hypoplasia or agenesis, ear anomalies, microstomia, and microglossia. Patient 1 was noted prenatally by ultrasound to have severe micrognathia and, after birth, abnormal ears with canal stenosis and non-contiguous lobules located dorsally to the rest of the pinnae, normal zygomata, severe jaw immobility and microstomia with an opening of only 4 to 5 mm, hypoplastic tongue, and cleft palate. The 21-year-old mother of patient 1 was born with severe micrognathia requiring tracheostomy, microglossia, cleft palate with filiform alveolar bands, abnormal pinnae, and decreased conductive hearing. Dysgnathia is thought to result from a defect in the development of the first branchial arch. A similar phenotype has been seen in Otx2 haplo-insufficiency and endothelin-1 homozygous null mice, suggesting that these genes contribute to branchial arch development. Our report of a long-surviving mother and her daughter with non-syndromal dysgnathia may lead to identification of the molecular basis of these findings and provide insight into the genetics of first branchial arch formation. The survival of patient 1 and patient 2 beyond the neonatal period has implications for improvements in prenatal diagnosis and counseling and for neonatal treatment of this condition.

No abstract