OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and it is related to an anxiety disorder and performs rituals over and over again. I mean, everyone double checks things, whether it is making sure the stove is off or if you locked your car doors. It becomes a disorder when the actions or thoughts become very frequency and obsessive. Rather recently, researchers identified four genes that are linked to canine OCD and very similar to human OCD. How did they do this you may ask? The researchers performed a Genome Wide Association Study of Doberman pinschers, and then they sequenced bull terriers, shetland sheep dogs, and German shepherds. These dogs were sequenced because OCD in these canines is most prominent. Canine OCD includes continuously chasing the tail,needing excessive grooming, and sucking. From these dogs, they could figure out case only genetic variants, with mutation present in OCD dog and not in the healthy control dog. They then tested 69 more dogs from OCD susceptible breeds and 19 from insusceptible breeds. The researchers found that the four genes associated with OCD. These four genes associated with the OCD disorder are CDH2, PGCP, ATXN1, CTNNA2. Although, more tests need to be done to be sure that these genes are also the genes in humans, if these results remain consistent within humans, then this could advance treatment for people that suffer with this disorder. Personally, I think that this would be pretty cool if the genes associated to OCD in canines are the same genes linked to Humans. I think it is possible that the two are closely related. I never even knew that OCD was even gene related, so to find this out, was interesting. I am curious to see what researchers find when they further this study in humans.
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