The Role of Layer 4 in Thalamocortical Development
Abstract
Thalamic innervation of cortex is a complex process in which specific regions of the thalamus must grow into precise cortical regions. Once within a specific cortical area, thalamic aflerents terminate largely upon a target population of cortical cells. within the somatosensory cortex, thalamic afferents terminate largely upon layer 4 cells. To further understand the importance of layer 4 in shaping the development of thalamic afferents and the specificity of their connectivity within somatosensory cortex, we disrupted the formation of layer 4 of ferret somatosensory cortex using the anti-mitotic drug, methylazoxy methanol acetate (MAM) on embryonic day 33 (E33). As a control, MAM was administered to a second group of animals on E3S to interfere with layer 2 fornation. Following MAM treatment, two sets of experiments were performed. In the first set of experiments, small crystals of the lipiphilic tracer, Dil were placed into the ventral basal (vB) region of thalamus of fixed brains obtained at Pi, P7 and P14. The distribution of thalamic fibers within the somatosensory
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA440194
Entities
People
- Sidney L. Palmer
Organizations
- Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences