supported by the National Basic Research Development Program of China(No.2006CB705600);the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.30700253,No.30800355);Research Project of Tianjin Medical University(No.2006KY21);2008 Scien-tific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chi-nese Scholars.
Down syndrome (DS) is the most common cause of cognitive impairment associated with a congenital chromosomal abnormality, trisomy of chromosome 21. Mental retardation and congenital heart defects are key features of...