Journal article
Mathematical modelling of cortical neurogenesis reveals that the founder population does not necessarily scale with neurogenic output
- Abstract:
- The mammalian cerebral neocortex has a unique structure, composed of layers of different neuron types, interconnected in a stereotyped fashion. While the overall developmental program seems to be conserved, there are divergent developmental factors generating cortical diversity amongst species. In terms of cortical neuronal numbers, some of the determining factors are the size of the founder population, the duration of cortical neurogenesis, the proportion of different progenitor types, and the fine-tuned balance between self-renewing and differentiative divisions. We develop a mathematical model of neurogenesis that, accounting for these factors, aims at explaining the high diversity in neuronal numbers found across species. By framing our hypotheses in rigorous mathematical terms, we are able to identify paths of neurogenesis that match experimentally observed patterns in mouse, macaque and human. Additionally, we use our model to identify key parameters that would particularly benefit from accurate experimental investigation. We find that the timing of a switch in favor of symmetric neurogenic divisions produces the highest variation in cortical neuronal numbers. Surprisingly, assuming similar cell cycle lengths in primate progenitors, the increase in cortical neuronal numbers does not reflect a larger size of founder population, a prediction that has identified a specific need for experimental quantifications.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
Actions
Access Document
- Files:
-
-
(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 686.4KB, Terms of use)
-
- Publisher copy:
- 10.1093/cercor/bhy068
Authors
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- Journal:
- Cerebral Cortex More from this journal
- Volume:
- 28
- Issue:
- 7
- Pages:
- 2540–2550
- Publication date:
- 2018-04-21
- Acceptance date:
- 2018-03-01
- DOI:
- EISSN:
-
1460-2199
- ISSN:
-
1047-3211
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
-
pubs:831042
- UUID:
-
uuid:d66b4707-2d8e-454b-9942-5c4c0e63fd55
- Local pid:
-
pubs:831042
- Source identifiers:
-
831042
- Deposit date:
-
2018-03-23
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Picco et al
- Copyright date:
- 2018
- Notes:
-
Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
If you are the owner of this record, you can report an update to it here: Report update to this record