"Hair-on-end" appearance in thickened cortex in a case of classic lissencephaly due to DCX gene mutation.

Abstract

X-linked lissencephaly is associated with a hemizygous mutation in DCX gene located on the X-chromosome. DCX mutation causes classic lissencephaly in males and subcortical laminar heterotopia in females. Neuronal migration arrest leads to pachygyria and the arrested neurons are noted along the path of neuronal migration between the periventricular region and the cortex. Diffusion tensor imaging in cases of lissencephaly shows abnormal radial arrangement of fibers within the cortex in a "hairon-end" pattern. We demonstrate this "hair-on-end" pattern of fibers within the thickened cortex in a case of lissencephaly due to a pathogenic mutation in DCX gene confirmed on next generation whole exome sequencing.