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Neural patterning is the biological process by which cells in the developing nervous system acquire distinct identities according to their specific spatial positions. Neural patterning is controlled by the combinatorial actions of signalling gradients along the dorso–ventral, antero–posterior and left–right axis of the developing nervous system.
How the cortex forms spatially structured modules during development is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that activity in early developing cortex is self-organized though local-excitation and lateral inhibition.
This protocol details the generation of cortical organoids with complex neural oscillations through a ‘semi-guided’ protocol, and their functional characterization using microelectrode array measurements, calcium imaging and adeno-associated virus transduction.
Neural mechanisms underlying brain-wide synchronization are not fully understood. Here authors show that traveling waves are prevalent in both excitatory and inhibitory neural populations, more pronounced in glutamatergic neurons, vary across developmental stages, and are associated with functional connections and gene expression.
Newly developed microfluidic neural tube-like and forebrain-like structures based on human pluripotent stem cells can model pivotal aspects of neural patterning along both the rostral–caudal and dorsal–ventral axes.
Retinoic acid signaling is involved in patterning the embryonic antero-posterior axis, and also regulates hindbrain segmentation in jawed vertebrates. Here they show that retinoic acid signaling plays important roles in hindbrain segmentation in a jawless vertebrate, the lamprey, thus indicating this feature of hindbrain development is conserved in all vertebrates.
Regulation of cell polarity is key to ensure directed cell migration. Here, Atkins et al. identify the primary cilium cAMP/cGMP ratio as a master regulator of the cell polarity of migrating cortical interneurons downstream of the CXCL12 chemokine.
The cortical distribution of Cajal–Retzius cells is regulated by the vesicular trafficking protein VAMP3 and contributes to the specification of higher-order cortical areas.