What I cannot create do not understand — Richard Feynman 1978 Because primate cortical development exhibits numerous specific features, the mouse is an imperfect model for human development. Expansion of supragranular neurons evolutionary feature characterizing cortex. Increased production supported by a germinal zone innovation cortex: Outer SubVentricular Zone, which along with constitute pri...

The mammalian cerebral cortex arises from precursor cells that reside in a proliferative region surrounding the lateral ventricles of the developing brain. Recent work has shown that precursor cells in the subventricular zone (SVZ) provide a major contribution to prenatal cortical neurogenesis, and that the SVZ is significantly thicker in gyrencephalic mammals such as primates than it is in lis...

The active component of the acne drug Accutane is 13-cis-retinoic acid (RA), and it is highly teratogenic for the developing central nervous system. Very little is known, however, regarding the effect of this drug on the adult brain. Regions of the brain that may be susceptible to RA are those that continue to generate new neurons. In the adult mouse, neurogenesis is maintained in the hippocamp...

Angiogenesis and neurogenesis are coupled processes. Using a coculture system, we tested the hypothesis that cerebral endothelial cells activated by ischemia enhance neural progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation, while neural progenitor cells isolated from the ischemic subventricular zone promote angiogenesis. Coculture of neural progenitor cells isolated from the subventricular zone...

Precisely regulated radial cell migration out of the ventricular zone is essential for corticogenesis. However, molecular mechanisms controlling the start of migration and the dynamics of migrating cell shape remain elusive. Here, we show novel mechanisms that can tether ventricular zone cells and control migrating cell shape. The novel protein Filamin A-interacting protein (FILIP) interacts wi...

Interkinetic nuclear migration (INM), the movement of neuroepithelial and radial glial cell nuclei along the apical-basal axis in concert with the cell cycle, underlies the pseudostratification of the ventricular zone (VZ). Recent studies provide insight into the molecular mechanisms of INM and its effects on neural progenitor cell fate determination. Moreover, INM not only has a key role in in...