| abstract |
A method for diagnosing a neuronal abnormality in a person includes providing living non-neural somatic cells from the person, maintaining the cells in culture under conditions in which the cells become neuronally differentiated, and detecting in the culture a metabolic indicator associated with a symptom of the neuronal abnormality. Also, a method for assaying the effectiveness of a potential therapeutic agent for treatment of a symptom of a neuronal abnormality in a patient, the symptom being associated in the neuronal abnormality with a metabolic indicator, includes treating neuronally differentiated somatic cells with the potential therapeutic agent, and detecting the metabolic indicator in the culture. |