Mammalian cadherins DCHS1-FAT4 affect functional cerebral architecture.
Brain Struct Funct 2015;
221:2487-91. [PMID:
25930014 DOI:
10.1007/s00429-015-1051-6]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2015] [Accepted: 04/22/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Cortical development is a complex process where a multitude of factors, including cadherins, plays an important role and where disruptions are known to have far reaching effects in neural development and cortical patterning. Cadherins play a central role in structural left-right differentiation during brain and body development, but their effect on a functional level remains elusive. We addressed this question by examining functional cerebral asymmetries in a patient with Van Maldergem Syndrome (VMS) (MIM#601390), which is caused by mutations in DCHS1-FAT4 cadherins, using a dichotic listening task. Using neurophysiological (EEG) data, we show that when key regulators during mammalian cerebral cortical development are disrupted due to DCHS1-FAT4 mutations, functional cerebral asymmetries are stronger. Basic perceptual processing of biaurally presented auditory stimuli was unaffected. This suggests that the strength and emergence of functional cerebral asymmetries is a direct function of proliferation and differentiation of neuronal stem cells. Moreover, these results support the recent assumption that the molecular mechanisms establishing early left-right differentiation are an important factor in the ontogenesis of functional lateralization.
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