title: The role of T-cadherin in axonal pathway formation in neocortical circuits.
abstract: Cortical efferent and afferent fibers are arranged in a stereotyped pattern in the intermediate zone (IZ). Here, we studied the mechanism of axonal pathway formation by identifying a molecule that is expressed in a subset of cortical axons in the rat. We found that T-cadherin (T-cad), a member of the cadherin family, is expressed in deep-layer cell axons projecting to subcortical structures, but not in upper layer callosal axons projecting to the contralateral cortex. Ectopic expression of T-cad in upper layer cells induced axons to project toward subcortical structures via the upper part of the IZ. Moreover, the axons of deep-layer cells in which T-cad expression was suppressed by RNAi projected towards the contralateral cortex via an aberrant route. These results suggest that T-cad is involved in axonal pathway formation in the developing cortex.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Laboratories, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-3 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hayano
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Laboratories, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-3 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Laboratories, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-3 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Aichi Medical University, Karimata-Yazako, Nagakute, Aichi 480-1195, Japan.
authors.forename: Kosei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.affiliation: Laboratories of Biomolecular Networks, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-3 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigemi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Norioka
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Laboratories, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-3 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan nobuhiko@fbs.osaka-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Nobuhiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001369:Axons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism*; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D018274:Electroporation; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019579:Neocortex / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000166:cytology*; D034622:RNA Interference; D051381:Rats; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; C099972:H-cadherin
keywords: Adhesion; Cadherin; Fasciculation; Neocortex; Pathfinding