A study of the membrane-bound factors that underlie the formation of thalamocortical projections

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The thalamocortical projection is one of the interesting systems to study the mechanisms that underlie generation of specific neuronal connections in the brain. During development, thalamic axons in grow into the cortex, which is composed of six cell layers, and selectively project to layer 4, the target layer. To date, we have demonstrated that axonal stopping and branching are crucial behavior for the targeting mechanism, by using organotypic coculture preparations. In this study we study the role of the membrane-associated and diffusible molecules to thalamic axon growth and guidance. The result suggests that ephrin-B3contributes to regional and layer specificity by suppressing axonal growth from lateral thalamic neurons. Moreover, evidence suggest that neurotrophins promote axonal growth in a substratum-dependent manner in the development of thalamocortical connections.