title: Ebf2 marks early cortical neurogenesis and regulates the generation of cajal-retzius neurons in the developing cerebral cortex.
abstract: Mammalian cortical neurogenesis occurs on a precise time schedule during development. The earliest born neurons form the preplate and later separate into layer 1, which includes Cajal-Retzius (C-R) neurons, and the subplate. The preplate and its derivatives play a critical role in regulating subsequent neuron migration and cortical lamination. Using an early B cell factor 2 (Ebf2)-enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) transgenic mouse line, we show that Ebf2-EGFP is expressed in the preplate and persists in C-R neurons, allowing us to follow the development of these early born neurons. Therefore, Ebf2 is a genetic marker for preplate neurons from the earliest stage of their differentiation and C-R cells after the preplate is split. Additionally, we examined the function of Ebf2 in the development of C-R neurons using both lentiviral-mediated knock-down overexpression approaches to perturb Ebf2 expression. Our data show that Ebf2 overexpression increases the generation of early born neurons including C-R cells, while Ebf2 knock-down decreases it, without affecting the generation of other layer-specific neurons in vitro. These results indicate that Ebf2 is important for early cortical neurogenesis and regulates the generation of C-R neurons in the developing cerebral cortex.
authors: Graduate Institute of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC.
authors: Shu-Mien
authors: SM
authors: Chuang
authors: Yue
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: Qingjie
authors: Q
authors: Wang
authors: Keh-Min
authors: KM
authors: Liu
authors: Qin
authors: Q
authors: Shen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; C489922:Ebf2 protein, mouse