BTW, the vast majority of studies on neural crest genetic variants
are not in ferrets.  The neural crest is so basal, however, that it is
pretty safe to generalize as long as a person remembers that they are
generalizations.  Sometimes it can be hard as heck to find studies, too,
even using resources like Pubmed.  There are just so many references
these days that it can be hard to find as many as exist if the categories
are broad.  For example, several years back a friend found a study of
ferrets with cardiomyopathy and neural crest genetic variations, but I
misplaced my copy and have not been able to find it since, finding only
studies in other animals whenever I periodically search again.  It
alternatively may be that it was a conference presentation rather than a
paper.  Conference presentations often disappear after a while, ditto
papers done for someone/something instead of journals.
 
If you go to
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi
you will reach Pubmed and can find the alternatives that readily come
up.  and, of course, a seach on Google or another search engine for
cardiomyopathy +"neural crest" may interest some people.
 
http://www.afip.org/vetpath/WSC/wsc04/04wsc08.pdf
is a good document on cardiomyopathy in ferrets but it has just a
general comment among the list of possible causes.  Still, it is worth
reading for those who want to look at cardiomyopathy in ferrets.
 
A person runs into strange things, too.  For instance, i didn't know
that fetal alcohol syndrome can result in the loss of facial and
cranial neural crest cells:
http://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/html/reports/fy2003/niaaa.html
Can't say i am wild about the fetal alcohol syndrome studies of
ferret eyes, though.
 
If anyone has a copy of that one study I'd appreciate having it again.
 
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love
them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5313]