The British Journal of Psychiatry 131: 565-574 (1977)
© 1977 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
The biochemistry of brain development and mental retardation
AN Davison
Mental retardation may be associated with a number of environmental factors
such as undernutrition, lead poisoning or exposure to neuroactive drugs
during a critical period of brain development. Possible biochemical
mechanisms operating in these various conditions and in animal models are
reviewed in relation to the vulnerable period hypothesis. Small brains are
common in the mentally retarded, and this may be related to a developmental
abnormality particularly at the level of the synapse.