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Brain development

The neuron family tree remodelled

Nature volume 490, pages 185–186 (2012)Cite this article

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The discovery of different classes of neuronal progenitor cell, destined to give rise to neurons in specific layers of the cerebral cortex, could presage the revision of a 50-year-old model of brain development.

The neocortex, the mammalian brain's most recent evolutionary acquisition, controls the aspects of behaviour that make us human, from the fine-scale finger movements of a virtuoso pianist to the complex syntactic processing required for language. Its highly regular structure contains a complex matrix of excitatory and inhibitory neurons organized into distinct layers and columns. Neurons in any one cortical layer share general patterns of connectivity, whereas neurons in the same column are typically interconnected across layers and function as the basic unit of cortical operations1. Over the past 100 years, analysis of the developing brain has provided fundamental insights into the functional organization of the neocortex2. However, Franco et al.3, writing in Science, provide evidence that puts a radically new perspective on the link between brain development and neuronal function.

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Figure 1: Adding layers of complexity to the brain.

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  1. Oscar Marín is at the Instituto de Neurociencias, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and Universidad Miguel Hernández, Sant Joan d'Alacant 03550, Spain.,

    Oscar Marín

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  1. Oscar Marín
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Correspondence to Oscar Marín.

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Marín, O. The neuron family tree remodelled. Nature 490, 185–186 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/490185a

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