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Verónica Martínez Cerdeño, Ph.D.
Professor
Locations and Contact
Shriners Hospital for Children
Shriners Hospital for Children
2425 Stockton Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95817
Clinic Phone: 916-453-2180
Clinic Fax: 916-453-2373
Additional Numbers
Physician Referrals
Research/Academic Interests
Dr. Verónica Martínez-Cerdeño’s research centers on neurodevelopmental disorders, with a particular focus on autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Fragile X syndrome (FXS), and Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS). She investigates the anatomy and pathology of these conditions through the study of postmortem brain tissue and the development of animal models aimed at identifying potential treatments. In addition, her work explores the role of stem cells in the development, evolution, and pathogenesis of the mammalian cerebral cortex.
Dr. Martínez-Cerdeño has made several significant contributions to the field of autism research. Among her most notable discoveries is the reduction of parvalbumin chandelier interneurons in the cortex of individuals with autism and FXS. She also demonstrated a link between this reduction and the presence of restricted, repetitive behaviors. Her work further showed that individuals with autism and intellectual disability exhibit a more severe and widespread loss of interneurons, suggesting a more profound developmental disruption in these cases. These findings highlight the role of impaired inhibitory signaling on pyramidal neurons , providing crucial insight into its cellular mechanisms. They also position interneuron pathology as a valuable biomarker for validating autism animal models, studying neurodevelopmental trajectories, and guiding the development of targeted therapeutics.
In the realm of FXTAS, Dr. Martínez-Cerdeño has discovered much of the pathology currently known. Her work has identified features such as iron deposition, microbleeds, senescent and activated microglia and astrocytes, elevated cytokine levels, and characteristic "tween" inclusions. She is the director of the only existing repository of FXS and FXTAS brain tissue and leads the only laboratory conducting postmortem pathological research on FXTAS.
Center/Program Affiliation
Undergraduate School
B.S., Complutense University, Madrid, Spain 1998
Medical School
Ph.D., Autnoma University School of Medicine, Madrid, Spain 2002
Other School
Postdoctoral, Brain development, Columbia University, New York NY 2004
Other School
Postdoctoral training, Autism Tissue Program, UC Davis MIND institute, Sacramento CA 2008
Other School
Postdoctoral trainning, Neural stem cells, UC San Francisco, San Francisco CA 2007
UC Davis School of Medicine Award for Excellence in Diversity, 2022,
UC Davis ADVANCE Scholar Award, 2019,
UC Davis CAMPOS Award, 2016,
Access Dr. Martínez-Cerdeño's bibliography here.
Amina S, Falcone C, Hong T, Wolf-Ochoa MW, Vakilzadeh G, Allen E, Perez-Castro R, Kargar M, Noctor S, Martínez-Cerdeño V. Chandelier cartridge density is reduced in the prefrontal cortex in autism. Cerebral Cortex. 2021 Feb 1. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhaa402.
Dufour BD, Amina S, Martinez Cerdeño V. FXTAS presents with upregulation of the cytokines IL12 and TNF alpha. Parkinsonism & Related Disorders. 2021 Jan;82:117-120.
Falcone C, Penna E, Hong T, Tarantal AF, Hof PR, Hopkins WD, Sherwood CC, Noctor SC, Martínez-Cerdeño V. Cortical Interlaminar Astrocytes are Generated Prenatally, Mature Postnatally, and Express Unique Markers in Human and Nonhuman Primates. Cerebral Cortex. 2021 Jan 1;31(1):379-395. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhaa231.
Hong T, Falcone C, Dufour B, Amina S, Castro RP, Regalado J, Pearson W, Noctor SC, Martínez-Cerdeño V. GABAARα2 is decreased in the axon initial segment of pyramidal cells in specific areas of the prefrontal cortex in autism. Neuroscience. 2020 Jun 15;437:76-86. doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.04.025.
Salcedo-Arellano MJ, Wolf-Ochoa MW, Hong T, Amina S, Tassone F, Lechpammer M, Hagerman R, Martínez-Cerdeño V. Parkinsonism Versus Concomitant Parkinson's Disease in Fragile X-Associated Tremor/Ataxia Syndrome. Mov Disord Clin Pract. 2020 Apr 9;7(4):413-418. doi:10.1002/mdc3.12942. PMID:32373658.
Falcone C, Vakilzadeh G, Noctor SC, Martínez-Cerdeño V. The fundamental building blocks of cortical development are established in human exencephaly. Pediatr Res. 2020 Apr;87(5):868-871. doi:10.1038/s41390-019-0687-y. Epub 2019 Nov 29. PMID:31783397.
Falcone C, Wolf-Ochoa M, Amina S, Hong T, Vakilzadeh G, Hopkins WD, Hof PR, Sherwood CC, Manger PR, Noctor SC, Martínez-Cerdeño V. Cortical interlaminar astrocytes across the therian mammal radiation. J Comp Neurol. 2019 Jul 1;527(10):1654-1674. doi:10.1002/cne.24605. Epub 2019 Jan 25. PMID:30552685.
Liu F, Horton-Sparks K, Hull V, Li RW, Martínez-Cerdeño V. The valproic acid rat model of autism presents with gut bacterial dysbiosis similar to that in human autism. Mol Autism. 2018 Dec 10;9:61. doi:10.1186/s13229-018-0251-3. PMID:30555669.
Martínez Cerdeño V, Hong T, Amina S, Lechpammer M, Ariza J, Tassone F, Noctor SC, Hagerman P, Hagerman R. Microglial cell activation and senescence are characteristic of the pathology FXTAS. Mov Disord. 2018 Dec;33(12):1887-1894. doi:10.1002/mds.27553. Epub 2018 Dec 10. PMID:30537011.
Martínez-Cerdeño V, Camacho J, Ariza J, Rogers H, Horton-Sparks K, Kreutz A, Behringer R, Rasweiler JJ 4th, Noctor SC. The Bat as a New Model of Cortical Development. Cereb Cortex. 2018 Nov 1;28(11):3880-3893. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhx251. PMID:29136119.