Volume 16, Number 10,
Issue of May 15, 1996
pp. 3247-3255
Copyright ©1996 Society for Neuroscience
Influences of the Thalamus on the Survival of Subplate and
Cortical Plate Cells in Cultured Embryonic Mouse Brain
Received Dec. 11, 1995; revised Feb. 26, 1996; accepted Feb. 28, 1996.
David J. Price and
R. Beau Lotto
Department of Physiology, University Medical School, Edinburgh EH8
9AG, United Kingdom
The afferent and efferent connections of the cerebral neocortex
develop simultaneously toward the end of embryogenesis. At this stage,
the neocortex comprises two main cell-dense layers: the thicker and
more superficial cortical plate (future layers 2-6) and the thinner
underlying subplate. Many early thalamocortical projections temporarily
innervate the subplate before leaving it to locate their ultimate
targets in the overlying cortical plate. The subplate then disappears.
In this study, we performed in vitro experiments on late
embryonic murine brain to test whether the thalamus can influence the
survival of cortical plate and subplate cells at this stage. In
isolated organotypic cortical explants from embryonic day 19 mice, most
of the cells that had formed the subplate died. Coculture with a
thalamic explant prevented this loss; coculture with additional
cortical or cerebellar explants did not. By contrast, many cells in or
destined for the cortical plate survived even in isolated cortical
explants; coculture with a thalamic explant did not alter the numbers
of these cells that survived. Our results suggest that the thalamus
provides trophic support for subplate cells but not for late embryonic
cortical plate cells. In vivo, a loss of thalamic-derived
trophic support for the subplate late in embryogenesis, consequent on
the movement of thalamocortical axons into the cortical plate, may
contribute to subplate death.
Key words:
cortical plate;
corticothalamic projection;
growth
factors;
mouse;
organotypic culture;
subplate;
thalamocortical
projection;
trophism