Brain Structure and Function

, Volume 221, Issue 5, pp 2487–2491 | Cite as

Mammalian cadherins DCHS1-FAT4 affect functional cerebral architecture

  • Christian Beste
  • Sebastian Ocklenburg
  • Maja von der Hagen
  • Nataliya Di Donato
Original Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

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.

Keywords

Functional cerebral asymmetries Lateralization Dichotic listening Left–right differentiation Van maldergem syndrome 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a Grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft BE4045/10-1 and 10-2 to C.B.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  • Christian Beste
    • 1
  • Sebastian Ocklenburg
    • 2
  • Maja von der Hagen
    • 3
  • Nataliya Di Donato
    • 4
  1. 1.Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of MedicineTU DresdenDresdenGermany
  2. 2.Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, BiopsychologyRuhr Universität BochumBochumGermany
  3. 3.Abteilung Neuropädiatrie, Medizinische Fakultät Carl Gustav CarusTechnische Universität DresdenDresdenGermany
  4. 4.Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Clinical GeneticsTU DresdenDresdenGermany

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