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Updated: Aug 11, 2026
Functional Calcium Imaging in Developing Cortical Networks
Published on: October 22, 2011
Calcium dynamics of neocortical ventricular zone cells
D F Owens1, A C Flint, R S Dammerman
1Department of Neurology, The Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, N.Y., USA.
Abstract:
Cell-cell signaling within the neocortical ventricular zone (VZ) has been shown to influence the proliferation of VZ precursor cells and the subsequent differentiation and fate of postmitotic neurons. Calcium (Ca(2+)), a ubiquitous second messenger implicated in the regulation of many aspects of development, may play a role in these signaling events. Accordingly, we have examined the spatiotemporal patterns of spontaneous intracellular free Ca(2+) ([Ca(2+)](i)) fluctuations of cells within the intact neocortical VZ. Previous observations have demonstrated that similar patterns of spontaneous [Ca(2+)](i) increase occur in both proliferative and postmitotic cortical cells, suggesting that they may be mechanistically similar. Our results suggest that the changes in [Ca(2+)](i) in VZ cells and cortical plate neurons are likely triggered by different mechansims, and imply that similar changes in [Ca(2+)](i) may underlie different signaling events during distinct phases of neocortical development.
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