Muscle, Connective Tissue, and Neonatal Disorders

The skeleton provides the framework and anchor points against which muscles, attached via tendons, can exert force. Three types of cells are involved in making bone: osteoblasts, osteoclasts, and cartilage. The human muscle system is made up of three types of muscle tissue: skeletal, cardiac, and smooth. The neonate period of life is the first 4 weeks after the birth of an infant. This chapter presents 11 genetic disorders that affect muscles, connective tissue, and newborns. These include achondroplasia, Charcot-Marie tooth syndrome, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Ellis-Van Creveld syndrome, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Marfan syndrome, fibrodysplasia ossificans progressive, myotonic dystrophy, Angelman syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, fragile-X syndrome, and Waardenburg syndrome.