Analyses on the pathogenesis of L1-associated hydrocephalus by knocking down L1 and TAG-1

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

L1 is a cell adhesion molecule associated with a spectrum of human neurological diseases, however; the function of L1 in neuronal migration during cortical histogenesis remains to be clarified. We therefore investigated the corticogenesis of mice embryos where L1 molecules were knocked down (L1-KD) in selected neurons, employing in utero electroporation with shRNAs targeting L1 (L1-shRNA). The radial migration of L1-KD neurons was significantly delayed and the directions of the leading process of L1-KD neurons became more dispersed, compared with the control neurons. In addition, two transcription factors expressed in the neurons, Satb2 and Tbr1, were shown to be reduced or aberrantly expressed in L1-KD neurons. These observations suggest that L1 plays an important role in regulating the locomotion and orientation of migrating neurons and the expression of transcription factors during neocortical development.