BDNF and Menkes disease: We analyzed four functional polymorphisms (rs25531, 5-HTTLPR, VNTR, rs3813034) of the SLC6A4 gene and one functional polymorphism (Val66 Met) of the BDNF gene in 98 patients with non-syndromic mental deficiency (NS-MD) and in an ethnically matched control population of 251 individuals.