Neuroinformatics: A new tool for studying the brain

Background: Central nervous system diseases constitute a major target for drug development. Genes expressed by the nervous system may represent half or more of the mammalian genome, with literally tens of thousands of gene products. Methods: Better methods are therefore required to accelerate the pace of mapping gene expression patterns in the mouse brain and to evaluate the progressive phenotypic changes in genetic models of human brain diseases. Conclusions: Recent studies of mouse models of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease illustrate how such data could be used for drug development. Since these two diseases - especially Alzheimer's Disease - entail disordered behavior, cognition and emotions, the framework and the methodology described in this article might in the future find applications in research on affective disorders.