title: Electrophysiological and gene expression profiling of neuronal cell types in mammalian neocortex.
abstract: It is a challenging question to understand how different neuronal types are organized into a complex architecture in the cortex, an architecture which is also adapted in different regions to subserve very different functions. Recent developments in genetic and molecular techniques have opened up the possibility of using gene expression profiling for neuronal cell typing, with the aim of uncovering novel cell types and the underlying mechanisms which generate and maintain neuronal heterogeneity in the cortex. This review introduces some current ideas about neuronal cell types in the cortex and describes recent approaches to expression profiling for defining cortical neuronal cell types.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EG, UK.
authors.forename: Kojiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yano
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Subkhankulova
authors.forename: Frederick J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Livesey
authors.forename: Hugh P C
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Robinson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004594:Electrophysiology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals / Q000235:genetics; D019579:Neocortex / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000145:classification / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques