Development of thalamocortical projections in normal and mutant mice.

Abstract

In vitro and in vivo studies have begun to reveal multiple mechanisms involved in the development of thalamocortical projections. Different cellular and molecular interactions dominate during the various stages of axon elongation, target selection, and establishment of layer- and area-specific connections. Recent work points to the crucial role of the early-developing thalamocortical projections and their interactions with the developing cortical circuitry in establishing the functional and structural organization of the cortex. In this chapter we give an overview of mutant mice, including knockout (KO) mice which have homozygous null gene mutations, which are providing interesting paradigms..