The effect of developmental neuropathology on neocortical asymmetry in New Zealand black mice.

Cerebral asymmetry can be considered along two continua-one based on direction (i.e., left or right) and another based on magnitude (i.e., symmetrical or asymmetrical). The possibility exists that these continua operate independently (Collins, 1981). To examine this possibility, the brains of 21 New Zealand Black (NZB) mice with molecular layer neuronal ectopias and 19 NZB mice without ectopias were studied. In NZB mice without ectopias, the magnitude of cerebral cortical asymmetry was negatively correlated to total cerebral cortical volume, a finding previously reported in both humans (Galaburda, Corsiglia, Rosen and Sherman, 1987) and rats (Galaburda, Aboitiz, Rosen and Sherman, 1986). NZB mice with ectopias showed no such relationship. However, both groups of mice had a consistent rightward bias in the direction of neocortical asymmetry, replicating previous results in rodents (Diamond, Johnson and Ingham, 1975; Diamond, Dowling and Johnson, 1981; Kolb, Sutherland, Nonneman and Whishaw, 1982; Ward and Collins, 1985). This suggests that the mechanisms underlying the magnitude of cerebral cortical asymmetry differ from those underlying the direction of this asymmetry.