PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Anastassia Stoykova
AU  - Dieter Treichel
AU  - Marc Hallonet
AU  - Peter Gruss
TI  - <em>Pax6</em> Modulates the Dorsoventral Patterning of the  Mammalian Telencephalon
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.20-21-08042.2000
DP  - 2000 Nov 01
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 8042--8050
VI  - 20
IP  - 21
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/20/21/8042.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/20/21/8042.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2000 Nov 01; 20
AB  - The Pax6 gene encodes a transcription factor with a restricted expression in the ventricular zone of the pallium and subpallium. We tested whether the function of Pax6 is necessary for the correct patterning and morphogenesis of the vertebrate telencephalon. Homozygous embryos of the Pax6/Small eye mutant lack functional PAX6 protein because of a point mutation of the gene. In the mutant Small eyeembryos we detected a ventralization of the molecular patterning of the telencephalon at two borders, the pallium/subpallium and the lateral/medial ganglionic eminence. The results indicate thatPax6 controls the lateral limit of the expression ofNkx2.1, Shh, and Lhx6 in the prechordal neural tube, the telencephalon. This finding is in agreement with previous studies and supports a model for a common genetic mechanism for modulation of the dorsoventral patterning of the prechordal and epichordal CNS. The pattern defects caused by the loss of Pax6 function result in multiple morphological abnormalities in theSmall eye brain: dysgenesis of the piriform, insular, and lateral cortices, the claustrum–endopiriform nucleus, and a failure in the differentiation of a subpopulation of the cortical precursors. Together the results demonstrate that Pax6 has an essential role for the modulation of the dorsoventral patterning of the embryonic telencephalon, influencing thereby the forebrain morphogenesis.