The neuronal migration hypothesis of dyslexia: a critical evaluation thirty years on

, , , , , ,
1 Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
2 Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
3 Division of Neuroscience, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
4 Office of the President, Ballou Hall, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, United States
5 School of Medicine, University of St. Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom
6 Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.26637v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Developmental Biology, Genetics, Neuroscience, Anatomy and Physiology, Cognitive Disorders
Keywords
dyslexia, gene function, neuronal migration, neuropathology, RNA interference
Copyright
© 2018 Guidi et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Guidi LG, Velayos-Baeza A, Martinez-Garay I, Monaco AP, Paracchini S, Bishop DVM, Molnar Z. 2018. The neuronal migration hypothesis of dyslexia: a critical evaluation thirty years on. PeerJ Preprints 6:e26637v1

Abstract

The capacity for language is one of the key features underlying the complexity of human cognition and its evolution. However, little is known about the neurobiological mechanisms that mediate normal or impaired linguistic ability. For developmental dyslexia, early post-mortem studies conducted in the 1980s linked the disorder to subtle defects in the migration of neurons in the developing neocortex. These early studies were reinforced by human genetic analyses that identified dyslexia susceptibility genes and subsequent evidence of their involvement in neuronal migration. In this review, we examine recent experimental evidence that does not support the link between dyslexia and neuronal migration. We critically evaluate gene function studies conducted in rodent models and draw attention to the lack of robust evidence from histopathological and imaging studies in humans. Our review suggests that the neuronal migration hypothesis of dyslexia should be reconsidered, and the anatomical and genetic basis of dyslexia should be approached with a fresh start.

Author Comment

This is the first version of this review