Amoeboid microglial subpopulations visualized by antibodies against ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1, CD68, and CD45 enter the forebrain starting at 4.5 postovulatory or gestational weeks (gw). They penetrate the telencephalon and diencephalon via the meninges, choroid plexus, and ventricular zone. Early colonization by amoeboid microglia-macrophages is first restricted to the white matter, where these cells migrate and accumulate in patches at the junctions of white-matter pathways, such as the three junctions that the internal capsule makes with the thalamocortical projection, external capsule and cerebral peduncle, respectively. In the cerebral cortex anlage, migration is mainly radial and tangential towards the immature white matter, subplate layer, and cortical plate, whereas pial cells populate the prospective layer I. A second wave of microglial cells penetrates the brain via the vascular route at about 12-13 gw and remains confined to the white matter. Two main findings deserve emphasis. First, microglia accumulate at 10-12 gw at the cortical plate-subplate junction, where the first synapses are detected. Second, microglia accumulate in restricted laminar bands, most notably around 19-30 gw, at the axonal crossroads in the white matter (semiovale centre) rostrally, extending caudally in the immature white matter to the visual radiations. This accumulation of proliferating microglia is located at the site of white-matter injury in premature neonates. The spatiotemporal organization of microglia in the immature white and grey matter suggests that these cells may play active roles in developmental processes such as axonal guidance, synaptogenesis, and neurodevelopmental apoptosis as well as in injuries to the developing brain, in particular in the periventricular white-matter injury of preterm infants.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:The sensitivity of fetal MR imaging is poor with regard to the evaluation of diffuse ischemic white matter (WM) abnormalities. Our purpose was to evaluate the contribution of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in the analysis of microstructural changes in WM and to correlate neuroimaging with neurofetopathologic findings.
The clinical phenotype related to the terminal deletion of the long arm of the chromosome 13 (the so-called 13q- syndrome) includes a considerable number of malformations, especially of the brain. This report describes five cases of a cerebral midline anomaly that leads to a particular clover-shaped type of holoprosencephaly in 13q- fetuses at different stages of the second and third trimesters of gestation. Our cases are compared to those in literature reviews. This malformation has only been described by computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in eight children of various ages and has been called "middle interhemispheric fusion" or syntelencephaly. Recently, the human gene ZIC2, the mutation of which leads to holoprosencephaly, has been mapped to the long arm of chromosome 13. on band q32. These findings suggest that this particular type of holoprosencephaly may be related to ZIC2 gene loss of function.
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