title: Making sense out of spinal cord somatosensory development.
abstract: The spinal cord integrates and relays somatosensory input, leading to complex motor responses. Research over the past couple of decades has identified transcription factor networks that function during development to define and instruct the generation of diverse neuronal populations within the spinal cord. A number of studies have now started to connect these developmentally defined populations with their roles in somatosensory circuits. Here, we review our current understanding of how neuronal diversity in the dorsal spinal cord is generated and we discuss the logic underlying how these neurons form the basis of somatosensory circuits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA Helen.Lai@utsouthwestern.edu Jane.Johnson@utsouthwestern.edu.
authors.forename: Helen C
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4334-0243
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Seal
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA Helen.Lai@utsouthwestern.edu Jane.Johnson@utsouthwestern.edu.
authors.forename: Jane E
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8605-2746
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007395:Interneurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D012677:Sensation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000378:metabolism*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014157:Transcription Factors
keywords: Cutaneous; Dorsal spinal cord development; Itch; Mechanosensation; Neuroepithelium; Nociception; Pain; Proprioception; Pruriception; Thermosensation; Touch; Transcription factor networks; Vertebrate neural tube