Recommend Organogenesis to your librarian for 2008. Download form here.

Sign up for Table of Contents Alerts.

Email this page

Print this page

Review

Wnt/β-catenin signaling in cerebral cortical development

Anjen Chenn

This is an open-access article

 Download PDF

If the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.

The cerebral cortex is the center of our highest cognitive function, allowing the capacity for complex thought, language, and multiple other uniquely human characteristics. The mature cerebral cortex is organized in both the radial (inside to out) dimension into cortical layers as well as orthogonally into functional areas. In the radial dimension, cortical neurons reside in six functionally and morphologically distinct layers whose neurons differ in morphology, neurotransmitter use, and connectivity. In the orthogonal or tangential dimension, the cortex is also organized into functional areas that subserve distinct functions such as somatosensory, motor, visual, and higher association functions. Studies investigating the patterning of the cerebral cortex in this tangential dimension have revealed a complex interplay of discrete patterning centers serving to organize cell identity by the establishment of multiple opposing gradients of signaling molecules and transcription factors (Sur and Rubenstein, 2005). Relatively less is known about the molecules that pattern the cerebral cortex in the radial dimension. This review focuses on the role of the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in radial organization of the cerebral cortex.

Authors

Anjen Chenn

Department of Pathology; Northwestern University; Feinberg School of Medicine; Evanston, Illinois USA

This is an open-access article

 Download PDF

If the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.