title: Metaphase acrocentric associations in metally retarded patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The metaphase of 21 severely mentally retarded patients were studies to assess the role of satellite association in the etiology of mental retardation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Peripheral blood culture, chromosome harvesting and study scoring were conducted according to standard methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Considered as a whole the results indicate that there is a significant increase in the frequency of satellite association among the mentally retarded.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study concluded that satellite association may play a role in the etiology of mental retardation and may explain to some extent the presence of normal karyotype in some mental retardation patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, Middle Euphrates Center for Cancer Researches, College of Medicine, Kufa University, PO Box 18, Kufa, Iraq. Fax. +964 (1) 886 7170.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Yasseen
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Al-Musawi