Article abstract

Nature Neuroscience 11, 36 - 44 (2008)
Published online: 2 December 2007 | Corrected online: 9 December 2007 | doi:10.1038/nn2018

Semaphorin-3A guides radial migration of cortical neurons during development

Gang Chen1,2,3, Jian Sima1,2,3, Ming Jin1,3, Kai-yu Wang1,2, Xiao-jing Xue1,2, Wang Zheng1,2, Yu-qiang Ding1 & Xiao-bing Yuan1

Postmitotic neurons in the developing cortex migrate along radial glial fibers to their proper location in the cortical plate and form the layered structure. Here we report that the radial migration of rat layer II/III cortical neurons requires guidance by the extracellular diffusible factor Semaphorin-3A (Sema3A). This factor is expressed in a descending gradient across the cortical layers, whereas its receptor neuropilin-1 (NP1) is highly expressed in migrating neurons. Downregulation or conditional knockout of NP1 in newborn cortical neurons impedes their radial migration by disrupting their radial orientation during migration without altering their cell fate. Studies in cultured cortical slices further show that the endogenous gradient of Sema3A is required for the proper migration of newborn neurons. In addition, transwell chemotaxis assays show that isolated newborn neurons are attracted by Sema3A. Thus, Sema3A may function as a chemoattractive guidance signal for the radial migration of newborn cortical neurons toward upper layers.

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  1. Institute of Neuroscience and Key State Laboratory of Neurobiology, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, 320 Yue Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China.
  2. Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China.
  3. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Correspondence to: Xiao-bing Yuan1 e-mail: yuanxb@ion.ac.cn

* In the version of the supplementary information originally published online for this manuscript, the legends for Supplementary Video #3 and Supplementary Video #4 were inadvertently switched. This error has now been corrected and the legends correctly describe the appropriate videos

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