Summary The human central nervous system follows a pattern of development typical of all mammals, but certain neurodevelopmental features are highly derived. Building the human CNS requires the precise orchestration and coordination of myriad molecular and cellular processes across a staggering array of cell types and over a long period of time. Dysregulation of these processes affects the structure and function of the CNS and can lead to neurological or psychiatric disorders. Recent technological advances and increased focus on human neurodevelopment have enabled a more comprehensive characterization of the human CNS and its development in both health and disease. The aim of this review is to highlight recent advancements in our understanding of the molecular and cellular landscapes of the developing human CNS, with focus on the cerebral neocortex, and the insights these findings provide into human neural evolution, function, and dysfunction.

Summary Myelin sheaths provide critical functional and trophic support for axons in white matter tracts of the brain. Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) have extraordinary metabolic requirements during development as they differentiate to produce multiple myelin segments, implying they must first secure adequate access to blood supply. However, mechanisms that coordinate myelination and angiogenesis are unclear. Here, we show that oxygen tension, mediated by OPC-encoded hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) function, is an essential regulator of postnatal myelination. Constitutive HIF1/2α stabilization resulted in OPC maturation arrest through autocrine activation of canonical Wnt7a/7b. Surprisingly, such OPCs also show paracrine activity that induces excessive postnatal white matter angiogenesis in vivo, and directly stimulates endothelial cell proliferation in vitro. Conversely, OPC-specific HIF1/2α loss-of-function leads to insufficient angiogenesis in corpus callosum and catastrophic axon loss. These findings indicate that OPC-intrinsic HIF signaling couples postnatal white matter angiogenesis, axon integrity and the onset of myelination in mammalian forebrain.

The lifelong addition of neurons to the hippocampus is a remarkable form of structural plasticity, yet the molecular controls over proliferation, neuronal fate determination, survival, and maturation are poorly understood. Expression of Notch1 was found to change dynamically depending on the differentiation state of neural precursor cells. Through the use of inducible gain-and loss-of-function of Notch1 mice we show that this membrane receptor is essential to these distinct processes. We found in vivo that activated Notch1 overexpression induces proliferation, whereas ␥-secretase inhibition or genetic ablation of Notch1 promotes cell cycle exit, indicating that the level of activated Notch1 regulates the magnitude of neurogenesis from postnatal progenitor cells. Abrogation of Notch signaling in vivo or in vitro leads to a transition from neural stem or precursor cells to transit-amplifying cells or neurons. Further, genetic Notch1 manipulation modulates survival and dendritic morphology of newborn granule cells. These results provide evidence for the expansive prevalence of Notch signaling in hippocampal morphogenesis and plasticity, suggesting that Notch1 could be a target of diverse traumatic and environmental modulators of adult neurogenesis.adult neurogenesis ͉ Mash1 ͉ proneural ͉ stem cell

Permanent damage to white matter tracts, comprising axons and myelinating oligodendrocytes, is an important component of newborn brain injuries that cause cerebral palsy and cognitive disabilities as well as multiple sclerosis (MS) in adults. However, regulatory factors relevant in human developmental myelin disorders and in myelin regeneration are unclear. Here, we report expression of AXIN2 in immature oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OLP) within white matter lesions of human newborns with neonatal hypoxic-ischemic and gliotic brain damage, as well as active MS lesions in adults. Axin2 is a target of Wnt transcriptional activation that feeds back negatively on the pathway, promoting β-catenin degradation. We show Axin2 function is essential for normal kinetics of remyelination. Small molecule inhibitor XAV939, which targets enzymatic activity of Tankyrase, acts to stabilize Axin2 levels in OLP from brain and spinal cord and accelerates their differentiation and myelination after hypoxic and demyelinating injury. Together, these findings indicate that Axin2 is an essential regulator of remyelination and that it might serve as a pharmacological checkpoint in this process.

SUMMARY Trisomy 21, or Down syndrome (DS), is the most common genetic cause of developmental delay and intellectual disability. To gain insight into the underlying molecular and cellular pathogenesis, we conducted a multi-region transcriptome analysis of DS and euploid control brains spanning from mid-fetal development to adulthood. We found genome-wide alterations in the expression of a large number of genes, many of which exhibited temporal and spatial specificity and were associated with distinct biological processes. In particular, we uncovered co-dysregulation of genes associated with oligodendrocyte differentiation and myelination that were validated via cross-species comparison to Ts65Dn trisomy mice. Furthermore, we show that hypomyelination present in Ts65Dn mice is in part due to cell-autonomous effects of trisomy on oligodendrocyte differentiation and results in slower neocortical action potential transmission. Together, these results identify defects in white matter development and function in DS and provide a transcriptional framework for further investigating DS neuropathogenesis.

To identify the fates that astroglial cells can attain in the postnatal brain, we generated mice carrying an inducible Cre recombinase (Cre-ER T2 ) controlled by the human GFAP promoter (hGFAP). In mice carrying the GCE (hGFAP-Cre-ER T2 ) transgene, OHT (4-hydroxytamoxifen) injections induced Cre recombination in astroglial cells at postnatal day 5 and allowed us to permanently tag these cells with reporter genes. Three days after recombination, reporter-tagged cells were quiescent astroglial cells that expressed the stem cell marker LeX in the subventricular zone (SVZ) and dentate gyrus (DG). After 2-4 weeks, the tagged GFAP lineage included proliferating progenitors expressing the neuronal marker Dcx (Doublecortin) in the SVZ and the DG. After 4 weeks, the GFAP lineage generated mature neurons in the olfactory bulb (OB), DG, and, strikingly, also in the cerebral cortex. A major portion of all neurons in the DG and OB born at the end of the first postnatal week were generated from GFAP ϩ cells. In addition to neurons, mature oligodendrocytes and astrocytes populating the cerebral cortex and white matter were also the progeny of GFAP ϩ astroglial ancestors. Thus, genetic fate mapping of postnatal GFAP ϩ cells reveals that they seed the postnatal brain with neural progenitors/stem cells that in turn give rise to neural precursors and their mature neuronal and oligodendrocytic progeny in many CNS regions, including the cerebral cortex.

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the BEx technology and the research described herein. Z.V. and S.G.D. developed the surgical procedure, performed the perfusion experiments, and collected and processed tissue samples for subsequent analyses; Z.V. and S.G.D. performed the MRI studies and analyzed the data;