Two types of cortical neurons

Laurent Nguyen (a research associate of the FRS-FNRS and a WELBIO investigator) and his team at the University of Liège’s GIGA-Neurosciences unit, are studying the molecular regulation of neurogenesis. One of aspect of their research is to uncover the mechanisms that control the development of the cerebral cortex. The latter is composed of two classes of neurons: projection neurons and GABAergic interneurons. The first ones are excitatory neurons with far-reaching axons that create connexions with motor neurons in the spinal cord, among other things. Interneurons are inhibitors neurons that play a crucial role in controlling the activity of neuronal ensembles. These two types of cortical nerve cells come from different progenitor domains in the telencephalon. To settle to their final location within the developing cerebral cortex, the projection neurons and interneurons use two distinct migration modes.

In 2009, Laurent Nguyen and his colleagues showed the contribution of the elongator complex to the migration of projection neurons in the cerebral cortex (read: La migration des neurones sous l’aile d’Elongator). In a study published in the journal Developmental Cell (1), the researchers from Liège have recently demonstrated the key role of protein p27 in controlling the migration of the cortical interneurons.