Four Decades Confronting Anomalies

Abstract

The author began his genetic study on hereditary disorders of the nervous system in 1938 in the First Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya Medical College. While he had been examining family members with the above disorders, he recognized that besides major hereditary traits, in some cases, malformations and minor anomalies were also observed not only in victims but also in seemingly healthy relatives. Among these anomalies, there were many which were said to belong to the "Status dysraphicus" which was stressed by German investigators. "Status dysraphicus" was the term for an anomaly group which supposedly resulted from failure in closure of the neural tube. By 1940, Panse of Germany, advocated a hypothesis called "Zwischenhimorganizationsfeld". Panse also thought that anomalous conditions might be caused by malinduction of the diencephalon in embryogenesis. As these two hypotheses had no experimental foundation, the author attempted to examine them by means of animel experiments. In 1950, he became a member of the Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Nagoya University and had an opportunity to conduct animal experiments. Thereafter, besides studies in human genetics, he had been carrying out comparative developmental pathology especially on the central nervous system.