Neurological defect: manganese in phenocopy and prevention of a genetic abnormality of inner ear.

A specific congenital ataxia may be caused by presence of mutant genes and by manganese deficiency during prenatal development in normal mice. Supplementation of the diet of mutant mice with manganese during prenatal development rectifies the aberrant development, resulting in normal behavior. The congential ataxa results from defective development of the the otoliths.