Brain-heart link may explain sudden death in Rett syndrome

15th December, 2011 - Posted by admin -

Poets might scoff at the notion that heart and brain are closely related, but scientists say a genetic defect that affects the brain can stop a heart. In a new study, researchers found that heart problems that occur in nearly 20 percent of children with Rett syndrome, a neurological disorder, originate because the Rett gene is lost in nerve cells — not in heart muscle cells.