Here we describe mechanisms regulating area patterning of developing mammalian neocortex, referred to as arealization. Current findings indicate an interplay between intrinsic genetic mechanisms and extrinsic information relayed to cortex by thalamocortical input. Intrinsic mechanisms are based on morphogens and signaling molecules secreted by patterning centers, positioned at the perimeter of dorsal telencephalon, that generate across nascent cortex the graded expression of transcription factors in cortical progenitors. Two major patterning centers are the commissural plate, which expresses Fgf8 and Fgf17, and the cortical hem, which expresses Bmps and Wnts. Four transcription factors, COUP-TFI, Emx2, Pax6, and Sp8, with graded expression across the embryonic cortical axes, are shown to determine sizes and positions of cortical areas by specifying or repressing area identities within cortical progenitors. They also interact to modify their expression, as well as expression of Fgf8. We review these mechanisms of arealization and discuss models and concepts of cortical area patterning.

Studies of area patterning of the neocortex have focused on primary areas, concluding that the primary visual area, V1, is specified by transcription factors (TFs) expressed by progenitors. Mechanisms that determine higher-order visual areas (VHO) and distinguish them from V1 are unknown. We demonstrated a requirement for thalamocortical axon (TCA) input by genetically deleting geniculocortical TCAs and showed that they drive differentiation of patterned gene expression that distinguishes V1 and VHO. Our findings suggest a multistage process for area patterning: TFs expressed by progenitors specify an occipital visual cortical field that differentiates into V1 and VHO; this latter phase requires geniculocortical TCA input to the nascent V1 that determines genetic distinctions between V1 and VHO for all layers and ultimately determines their area-specific functional properties.

Breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 (BRCA1) is a breast and ovarian cancer tumor suppressor whose loss leads to DNA damage and defective centrosome functions. Despite its tumor suppression functions, BRCA1 is most highly expressed in the embryonic neuroepithelium when the neural progenitors are highly proliferative. To determine its functional significance, we deleted BRCA1 in the developing brain using a neural progenitor-specific driver. The phenotype is characterized by severe agenesis of multiple laminated cerebral structures affecting most notably the neocortex, hippocampus, cerebellum, and olfactory bulbs. Major phenotypes are caused by excess apoptosis, as these could be significantly suppressed by the concomitant deletion of p53. Certain phenotypes attributable to centrosomal and cell polarity functions could not be rescued by p53 deletion. A double KO with the DNA damage sensor kinase ATM was able to rescue BRCA1 loss to a greater extent than p53. Our results suggest distinct apoptotic and centrosomal functions of BRCA1 in neural progenitors, with important implications to understand the sensitivity of the embryonic brain to DNA damage, as well as the developmental regulation of brain size.

The LIM homeobox 2 transcription factor Lhx2 is known to control crucial aspects of neural development in various species. However, its function in human neural development is still elusive. Here, we demonstrate that LHX2 plays a critical role in human neural differentiation, using human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) as a model. In hESC-derived neural progenitors (hESC-NPs), LHX2 was found to be expressed before PAX6, and co-expressed with early neural markers. Conditional ectopic expression of LHX2 promoted neural differentiation, whereas disruption of LHX2 expression in hESCs significantly impaired neural differentiation. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that LHX2 regulates neural differentiation at two levels: first, it promotes expression of PAX6 by binding to its active enhancers, and second, it attenuates BMP and WNT signaling by promoting expression of the BMP and WNT antagonist Cerberus 1 gene (CER1), to inhibit non-neural differentiation. These findings indicate that LHX2 regulates the transcription of downstream intrinsic and extrinsic molecules that are essential for early neural differentiation in human.

BackgroundCortical GABAergic interneurons (INs) are generated in the medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) and migrate tangentially into cortex. Because most, if not all, migrating MGE-derived INs express the neuregulin (NRG) receptor, ErbB4, we investigated influences of Nrg1 isoforms and Nrg3 on IN migration through ventral telencephalon (vTel) and within cortex.ResultsDuring IN migration, NRG expression domains and distributions of ErbB4-expressing, MGE-derived INs are complementary with minimal overlap, both in vTel and cortex. In wild-type mice, within fields of NRG expression, these INs are focused at positions of low or absent NRG expression. However, in ErbB4-/- HER4heart mutant mice in which INs lack ErbB4, these complementary patterns are degraded with considerable overlap evident between IN distribution and NRG expression domains. These findings suggest that NRGs are repellents for migrating ErbB4-expressing INs, a function supported by in vitro and in vivo experiments. First, in collagen co-cultures, MGE-derived cells preferentially migrate away from a source of secreted NRGs. Second, cells migrating from wild-type MGE explants on living forebrain slices from wild-type embryonic mice tend to avoid endogenous NRG expression domains, whereas this avoidance behavior is not exhibited by ErbB4-deficient cells migrating from MGE explants and instead they have a radial pattern with a more uniform distribution. Third, ectopic NRG expression in the IN migration pathway produced by in utero electroporation blocks IN migration and results in cortex distal to the blockade being largely devoid of INs. Finally, fewer INs reach cortex in ErbB4 mutants, indicating that NRG-ErbB4 signaling is required for directing IN migration from the MGE to cortex.ConclusionsOur results show that NRGs act as repellents for migrating ErbB4-expressing, MGE-derived GABAergic INs and that the patterned expression of NRGs funnels INs as they migrate from the MGE to their cortical destinations.