Investigation of cell migration, fate specification and axon navigation in the neocortex by genetic cell ablation

新皮质含有多种类型的投射神经元，分六层排列。这些神经元来自同一类型的神经前体细胞，称为放射状胶质细胞。我们最近发现，年轻的神经元可以通过反馈机制影响神经前体细胞的命运，使它们分泌某些作用于神经前体细胞的因子，并指导它们产生各种类型的神经元和神经胶质细胞。另一方面，不同类型的大脑皮层神经元在这种“反馈”中的确切作用尚不清楚。也不知道局部环境和细胞-细胞相互作用如何影响轴突导航和细胞迁移。我们将通过基因消融不同类型的皮质细胞来解决这些问题。我们将研究某些神经细胞类型的消融如何影响细胞的增殖、迁移和轴突靶向。

The neocortex contains multiple types of projection neurons, which are ordered in six layers. These neurons are born from the same type of neuronal progenitors named radial glia cells. We have recently shown that young neurons can influence the fate of neuronal progenitors by a feedback mechanism so that they secrete certain factors that act on progenitors and instruct them to give rise to various cell types of neurons and glia. On the other hand exact contribution of different types of cortical neurons into this “feedback” is not known. It is also not known how local environment and cell-cell interactions influence axon navigation and cell migration. We will address these issues by genetic ablation of various cortical cell types. We will investigate how does ablation of certain neuronal cell types will influence cell proliferation, migration and axonal targeting.