Topic summary
Ectodermal
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Ectoderm.
Ectodermal dysplasia
Ectodermal dysplasia is a rare but severe condition where the tissue groups (specifically teeth, skin, hair, nails and sweat glands) derived from the ectoderm undergo abnormal development. This is a diffuse term, as there are over 170 subtypes of ectodermal dysplasia. It has been accepted that the disease is caused by a mutation or a combination of mutations in certain genes. Research of the disease is ongoing, as only a fraction of the mutations involved with an ectodermal dysplasia subtype have been identified.