| First Author | Wu SX | Year | 2005 |
| Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 102 |
| Issue | 47 | Pages | 17172-7 |
| PubMed ID | 16284248 | Mgi Jnum | J:103830 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3610777 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.0508560102 |
| Citation | Wu SX, et al. (2005) Pyramidal neurons of upper cortical layers generated by NEX-positive progenitor cells in the subventricular zone. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 102(47):17172-7 |
| abstractText | The generation of pyramidal neurons in the mammalian neocortex has been attributed to proliferating progenitor cells within the ventricular zone (VZ). Recently, the subventricular zone (SVZ) has been recognized as a possible source of migratory neurons in brain slice preparations, but the relevance of these observations for the developing neocortex in vivo remains to be defined. Here, we demonstrate that a subset of progenitor cells within the SVZ of the mouse neocortex can be molecularly defined by Cre recombinase expression under control of the NEX/Math2 locus, a neuronal basic helix-loop-helix gene that by itself is dispensable for cortical development. NEX-positive progenitors are generated by VZ cells, move into the SVZ, and undergo multiple asymmetrical and symmetrical cell divisions that produce a fraction of the neurons in the upper cortical layers. Our data suggest that NEX-positive progenitors within the SVZ are committed to a glutamatergic neuronal fate and have evolved to expand the number of cortical output neurons that is characteristic for the mammalian forebrain. |
