The reelin gene encodes an extracellular protein that is crucial for neuronal migration in laminated brain regions. To gain insights into the functions of Reelin, we performed high-resolution in situ hybridization analyses to determine the pattern of reelin expression in the developing forebrain of the mouse. We also performed double-labeling studies with several markers, including calcium-binding proteins, GAD65/67, and neuropeptides, to characterize the neuronal subsets that express reelin transcripts. reelin expression was detected at embryonic day 10 and later in the forebrain, with a distribution that is consistent with the prosomeric model of forebrain regionalization. In the diencephalon, expression was restricted to transverse and longitudinal domains that delineated boundaries between neuromeres. During embryogenesis, reelin was detected in the cerebral cortex in Cajal-Retzius cells but not in the GABAergic neurons of layer I. At prenatal stages, reelin was also expressed in the olfactory bulb, and striatum and in restricted nuclei in the ventral telencephalon, hypothalamus, thalamus, and pretectum. At postnatal stages, reelin transcripts gradually disappeared from Cajal-Retzius cells, at the same time as they appeared in subsets of GABAergic neurons distributed throughout neocortical and hippocampal layers. In other telencephalic and diencephalic regions, reelin expression decreased steadily during the postnatal period. In the adult, there was prominent expression in the olfactory bulb and cerebral cortex, where it was restricted to subsets of GABAergic interneurons that co-expressed calbindin, calretinin, neuropeptide Y, and somatostatin. This complex pattern of cellular and regional expression is consistent with Reelin having multiple roles in brain development and adult brain function.

Glycogen synthesis is normally absent in neurons. However, inclusion bodies resembling abnormal glycogen accumulate in several neurological diseases, particularly in progressive myoclonus epilepsy or Lafora disease. We show here that mouse neurons have the enzymatic machinery for synthesizing glycogen, but that it is suppressed by retention of muscle glycogen synthase (MGS) in the phosphorylated, inactive state. This suppression was further ensured by a complex of laforin and malin, which are the two proteins whose mutations cause Lafora disease. The laforin-malin complex caused proteasome-dependent degradation both of the adaptor protein targeting to glycogen, PTG, which brings protein phosphatase 1 to MGS for activation, and of MGS itself. Enforced expression of PTG led to glycogen deposition in neurons and caused apoptosis. Therefore, the malin-laforin complex ensures a blockade of neuronal glycogen synthesis even under intense glycogenic conditions. Here we explain the formation of polyglucosan inclusions in Lafora disease by demonstrating a crucial role for laforin and malin in glycogen synthesis.

DYRK1A is the human orthologue of the Drosophila minibrain (mnb) gene, which is involved in postembryonic neurogenesis in flies. Because of its mapping position on chromosome 21 and the neurobehavioral alterations shown by mice overexpressing this gene, involvement of DYRK1A in some of the neurological defects of Down syndrome patients has been suggested. To gain insight into its physiological role, we have generated mice deficient in Dyrk1A function by gene targeting. Dyrk1A؊/؊ null mutants presented a general growth delay and died during midgestation. Mice heterozygous for the mutation (Dyrk1A ؉/؊ ) showed decreased neonatal viability and a significant body size reduction from birth to adulthood. General neurobehavioral analysis revealed preweaning developmental delay of Dyrk1A ؉/؊ mice and specific alterations in adults. Brains of Dyrk1A ؉/؊ mice were decreased in size in a region-specific manner, although the cytoarchitecture and neuronal components in most areas were not altered. Cell counts showed increased neuronal densities in some brain regions and a specific decrease in the number of neurons in the superior colliculus, which exhibited a significant size reduction. These data provide evidence about the nonredundant, vital role of Dyrk1A and suggest a conserved mode of action that determines normal growth and brain size in both mice and flies.

During development of the nervous system, specific recognition molecules provide the cues necessary for the formation of neural connections. In some regions, guiding cues for axonal pathfinding and target selection are provided by specific cells that exist only transiently during development, such as the floorplate or the cortical subplate. In the hippocampus, distinct groups of fibres innervate different layers. We have tested the hypothesis that transient neurons in the hippocampus provide positional information for the targeting of these fibres. Here we report that ablation of Cajal-Retzius cells in organotypic slice cultures of hippocampus prevented the ingrowth of entorhinal but not of commissural afferents. Experiments inhibiting Reelin (an extracellular matrix protein expressed by Cajal-Retzius cells) and analysis of reeler mutant mice showed dramatic abnormalities in the development of entorhinal afferents. Thus Cajal-Retzius cells and reelin are essential for the formation of layer-specific hippocampal connections.