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Nature Cell Biology 4, E253–E255 (1 November 2002) | doi:10.1038/ncb1102-e253

Integrins as developmental switches

Trent A. Watkins & Ben A. Barres

The developing nervous system faces the daunting task of coordinating the numbers of cells to provide precise numbers of functional contacts for target cells. A common approach for achieving this type of target matching in the central nervous system (CNS) is the overproduction of cells followed by their apoptosis if they fail to make the appropriate connections.