Introduction to the Series

Abstract

The accompanying article, "How to construct a neural tube," is the first in a new series. This series is designed to present new data on ontogeny and molecular genetic programming in terms meaningful to practicing clinicians who treat children with neurologic diseases. This new series, entitled The New Neuroembryology, is about development. Development is a term that to the neuroscientist represents a well-programmed sequence of anatomic and physiologic changes that occur from conception to maturity. Many clinicians, however, use the same term in reference to the functional acquisition of skills, and a whole discipline, developmental pediatrics, has evolved in this context. Both uses are correct— related but different. The New Neuroembryology is about molecular genetic programming of the nervous system, induction, trophic factors, cellular proliferation, apoptosis, adhesion molecules, migrations, intercellular communication, and substrates of cellular differentiation and maturation: normal and abnormal. Breakthroughs in biologic science that change forever our understanding of primordial life processes are rare events, despite the misperceptions and hyperbole of the popular media. A fountainhead of new molecular genetic information on embryonic and fetal development has erupted in the past decade and even the most skeptical and cautious scientist would concede that it does represent a conceptual breakthrough. The new concepts disclosed are inspiring not only in terms of depth of understanding, but also in their promise of new approaches to diagnosis and perhaps even treatment that were not even wildly speculated just a few years ago. These new data explain ontogeny as histology has never done to elucidate the pathogenesis and mechanisms of malformations of the nervous system. The Journal of Child Neurology proudly acknowledges this conceptual revolution in our chosen specialty as we enter a new decade and introduce pediatric neurology into a new millennium.