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Complete corpus callosum agenesis: can it be mild?

ABSTRACT: Corpus callosum agenesis is a relatively common brain malformation. It can be isolated or included in a complex alteration of brain (or sometimes even whole body) morphology. Etiology and pathogenetic mechanisms have been better understood in recent years due to the availability of more adequate animal models and the relevant progresses in developmental neurosciences. We present the case of a girl with a complete agenesis of the corpus callosum discovered at birth. She had mild learning difficulties, but reached satisfactory levels of autonomy after an individually tailored rehabilitative treatment. Her story is discussed in light of recent findings, which emphasize the possibility to exploit brain plasticity and the utility of an individually tailored approach, defined on the basis of a dialogue with the family and the patient.

SUBMITTER: Chiappedi M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3437615 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Complete corpus callosum agenesis: can it be mild?

Chiappedi Matteo M Fresca Anna A Baschenis Ilaria Maria Carlotta IM

Case reports in pediatrics 20120829

Corpus callosum agenesis is a relatively common brain malformation. It can be isolated or included in a complex alteration of brain (or sometimes even whole body) morphology. Etiology and pathogenetic mechanisms have been better understood in recent years due to the availability of more adequate animal models and the relevant progresses in developmental neurosciences. We present the case of a girl with a complete agenesis of the corpus callosum discovered at birth. She had mild learning difficul ...[more]

PMID: 22973527

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Project description:BackgroundImpaired social functioning is a common symptom of individuals with developmental disruptions in callosal connectivity. Among these developmental conditions, agenesis of the corpus callosum provides the most extreme and clearly identifiable example of callosal disconnection. To date, deficits in nonliteral language comprehension, humor, theory of mind, and social reasoning have been documented in agenesis of the corpus callosum. Here, we examined a basic social ability as yet not investigated in this population: recognition of facial emotion and its association with social gaze.MethodsNine individuals with callosal agenesis and nine matched controls completed four tasks involving emotional faces: emotion recognition from upright and inverted faces, gender recognition, and passive viewing. Eye-tracking data were collected concurrently on all four tasks and analyzed according to designated facial regions of interest.ResultsIndividuals with callosal agenesis exhibited impairments in recognizing emotions from upright faces, in particular lower accuracy for fear and anger, and these impairments were directly associated with diminished attention to the eye region. The callosal agenesis group exhibited greater consistency in emotion recognition across conditions (upright vs. inverted), with poorest performance for fear identification in both conditions. The callosal agenesis group also had atypical facial scanning (lower fractional dwell time in the eye region) during gender naming and passive viewing of faces, but they did not differ from controls on gender naming performance. The pattern of results did not differ when taking into account full-scale intelligence quotient or presence of autism spectrum symptoms.ConclusionsAgenesis of the corpus callosum results in a pattern of atypical facial scanning characterized by diminished attention to the eyes. This pattern suggests that reduced callosal connectivity may contribute to the development and maintenance of emotion processing deficits involving reduced attention to others' eyes.

Project description:The corpus callosum, with its ∼200 million axons, remains enigmatic in its contribution to cognition and behaviour. Agenesis of the corpus callosum is a congenital condition in which the corpus callosum fails to develop; such individuals exhibit localized deficits in non-literal language comprehension, humour, theory of mind and social reasoning. These findings together with parent reports suggest that behavioural and cognitive impairments in subjects with callosal agenesis may overlap with the profile of autism spectrum disorders, particularly with respect to impairments in social interaction and communication. To provide a comprehensive test of this hypothesis, we directly compared a group of 26 adults with callosal agenesis to a group of 28 adults with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder but no neurological abnormality. All participants had full-scale intelligence quotient scores >78 and groups were matched on age, handedness, and gender ratio. Using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule together with current clinical presentation to assess autistic symptomatology, we found that 8/26 (about a third) of agenesis subjects presented with autism. However, more formal diagnosis additionally involving recollective parent-report measures regarding childhood behaviour showed that only 3/22 met complete formal criteria for an autism spectrum disorder (parent reports were unavailable for four subjects). We found no relationship between intelligence quotient and autism symptomatology in callosal agenesis, nor evidence that the presence of any residual corpus callosum differentiated those who exhibited current autism spectrum symptoms from those who did not. Relative to the autism spectrum comparison group, parent ratings of childhood behaviour indicated children with agenesis were less likely to meet diagnostic criteria for autism, even for those who met autism spectrum criteria as adults, and even though there was no group difference in parent report of current behaviours. The findings suggest two broad conclusions. First, they support the hypothesis that congenital disruption of the corpus callosum constitutes a major risk factor for developing autism. Second, they quantify specific features that distinguish autistic behaviour associated with callosal agenesis from autism more generally. Taken together, these two findings also leverage specific questions for future investigation: what are the distal causes (genetic and environmental) determining both callosal agenesis and its autistic features, and what are the proximal mechanisms by which absence of the callosum might generate autistic symptomatology?

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Complete corpus callosum agenesis: can it be mild?

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Complete corpus callosum agenesis: can it be mild?

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