title: Glutamate and choline levels predict individual differences in reading ability in emergent readers.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8042, Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269-1020, Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143-0984, Yale University Child Study Center, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, Department of Communication Disorders, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, Connecticut 06515, and Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1611.
authors.forename: Kenneth R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Pugh
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Frost
authors.forename: Douglas L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Rothman
authors.forename: Fumiko
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hoeft
authors.forename: Stephanie N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Del Tufo
authors.forename: Graeme F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Molfese
authors.forename: W Einar
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Mencl
authors.forename: Elena L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Grigorenko
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Landi
authors.forename: Jonathan L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Preston
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jacobsen
authors.forename: Mark S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Seidenberg
authors.forename: Robert K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Fulbright
mesh_terms: D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D002648:Child; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism*; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011932:Reading; D014825:Vocabulary; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001224:Aspartic Acid; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; C000179:N-acetylaspartate; D002794:Choline
keywords: MRS; decoding; individual differences; phonological processing; reading; reading disability