title: DSCAM and DSCAML1 regulate the radial migration and callosal projection in developing cerebral cortex.
abstract: Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (Dscam) is essential for self-avoidance and tiling of dendritic development in sensory neurons in Drosophila. Recent studies also show that DSCAM together with its closely related protein DSCAML1 functions in dendritic self-avoidance of a certain types of interneuron in mammalian retina. However, the functions of these DSCAMs in developing mammalian cerebral cortex are not well understood. Here we reduced the expression of DSCAM or DSCAML1 in mouse cortical neurons by RNA interference both in vitro and in vivo. We found that knockdown of DSCAM or DSCAML1 increases the complexity of proximal dendritic branching, and impedes the axon growth in cultured neurons. In vivo knockdown experiments showed that both DSCAM and DSCAML1 contribute to normal radial migration and callosal projection during the postnatal development. Our results indicate an important role of DSCAM and DSCAML1 in the development of cortical neural network.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Arrhythmias, Ministry of Education, East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 150 Jimo Road, Shanghai 200120, China; Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Tongji University School of Medicine, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China. Electronic address: zhanglei1120@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Arrhythmias, Ministry of Education, East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 150 Jimo Road, Shanghai 200120, China; Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Tongji University School of Medicine, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China. Electronic address: yinghw@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Arrhythmias, Ministry of Education, East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 150 Jimo Road, Shanghai 200120, China; Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Tongji University School of Medicine, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China. Electronic address: jychen486@163.com.
authors.forename: Jia-Yin
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Arrhythmias, Ministry of Education, East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 150 Jimo Road, Shanghai 200120, China; Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Tongji University School of Medicine, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China. Electronic address: dingyuqiang@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yu-Qiang
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Arrhythmias, Ministry of Education, East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 150 Jimo Road, Shanghai 200120, China; Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Tongji University School of Medicine, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China. Electronic address: songnn1982@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ning-Ning
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000378:metabolism*; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D018274:Electroporation; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D051379:Mice; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D034622:RNA Interference; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; C486620:DSCAML1 protein, mouse; C491735:Dscam protein, mouse
keywords: Callosal projection; Cerebral cortex; DSCAM; Dendritic arborization; Radial migration