RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Glutamate and Choline Levels Predict Individual Differences in Reading Ability in Emergent Readers
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 4082
OP 4089
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3907-13.2014
VO 34
IS 11
A1 Kenneth R. Pugh
A1 Stephen J. Frost
A1 Douglas L. Rothman
A1 Fumiko Hoeft
A1 Stephanie N. Del Tufo
A1 Graeme F. Mason
A1 Peter J. Molfese
A1 W. Einar Mencl
A1 Elena L. Grigorenko
A1 Nicole Landi
A1 Jonathan L. Preston
A1 Leslie Jacobsen
A1 Mark S. Seidenberg
A1 Robert K. Fulbright
YR 2014
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/34/11/4082.abstract
AB Reading disability is a brain-based difficulty in acquiring fluent reading skills that affects significant numbers of children. Although neuroanatomical and neurofunctional networks involved in typical and atypical reading are increasingly well characterized, the underlying neurochemical bases of individual differences in reading development are virtually unknown. The current study is the first to examine neurochemistry in children during the critical period in which the neurocircuits that support skilled reading are still developing. In a longitudinal pediatric sample of emergent readers whose reading indicators range on a continuum from impaired to superior, we examined the relationship between individual differences in reading and reading-related skills and concentrations of neurometabolites measured using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Both continuous and group analyses revealed that choline and glutamate concentrations were negatively correlated with reading and related linguistic measures in phonology and vocabulary (such that higher concentrations were associated with poorer performance). Correlations with behavioral scores obtained 24 months later reveal stability for the relationship between glutamate and reading performance. Implications for neurodevelopmental models of reading and reading disability are discussed, including possible links of choline and glutamate to white matter anomalies and hyperexcitability. These findings point to new directions for research on gene-brain-behavior pathways in human studies of reading disability.