Mammalian brain development is a complex and orderly process that is highly precisely regulated. After a long period of exploration and research, scientists have gained a certain understanding of brain development and established some basic rules.
Neuron migration is an essential and important link in brain development. Immature neurons follow a certain migration pattern to reach the correct site, and finally form a highly complex neural circuit. The classical theory of the past held that excitatory primary neurons migrate radially along radial glia, while inhibitory interneurons migrate mainly tangentially. These migration patterns are important for brain function and form the basis of complex neural networks.
Hongjun Song and Guo-Li Ming of Johns Hopkins University recently challenged these basic principles. Their study revealed that excitatory neuronal precursors exhibit tangential migration in the adult mammalian brain. The surprising finding was published July 13 in the journal PNAS, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Song Hongjun and Ming Guoli are an immortal couple. They fell in love as early as when they were studying at Peking University. Now the two complement each other in their careers and have made achievements one after another in the field of neuroscience. More than 60 research papers have been signed and published in international authoritative academic journals such as Cell, PNAS, and Nat Neurosci.
In the dentate gyrus of the mouse brain, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have conducted an in-depth analysis of excitatory neuronal precursors and have found striking tangential migration behavior. Further studies showed that this tangential migration mainly occurred in the neuroblast stage.
This study further enriches our understanding of mammalian neurodevelopment, laying an important conceptual foundation for the study of brain plasticity, brain disease, and brain repair.