Development
Author: Diego Matias Gelman | email: diegogelman@yahoo.com.ar
Maria Lucila Bechelli 1°, Maria Eugenia Tomasella 1°, Sofia Lopez Cardoso 1°, Diego Matias Gelman 1°
1° IBYME
A wide diversity of cortical interneurons is generated from the subpallial region of the developing telencephalon by a combinatorial expression of transcription factors in a precise spatiotemporal program. Most cortical interneurons are derived from the medial ganglionic eminence that specifies both somatostatin and parvalbumin interneurons. It has been shown a preference for somatostatin specification from the dorsal region of the medial ganglionic eminence and a bias for parvalbumin interneuron specification from the ventral region. Despite our current understanding of interneuron specification, the molecular pathway segregating parvalbumin and somatostatin interneuron subtypes from the medial ganglionic eminence remains unknown. Here, we used a non-inducible Nkx6.2 transgenic mouse line to label the population of cortical interneurons derived from the dorsal region of the medial ganglionic eminence. Our results show that this transcription factor specifies over a third of the total population of cortical somatostatin interneurons preferentially at early developmental time points and that all Nkx6.2 derived somatostatin interneurons co-express reelin, calretinin or NPY. However, at late developmental stages, Nkx6.2 expressing progenitors shift to parvalbumin interneuron specification. Our results show that Nkx6.2 have the potential to specify both somatostatin and parvalbumin interneurons in an opposite timed course and suggest that a precise developmental control of Nkx6.2