Corpus callosum deficiency in transgenic mice expressing a truncated ephrin-A receptor

The A-class of the erythropoietin-producing hepatocellular carcinoma cell-derived (EphA) tyrosine kinase receptors and their ligands, the A-ephrins, play critical roles in the specification of topographic axon projection maps during development. In this study, the role of the EphA subfamily in callosal projections was investigated using transgenic mice expressing a kinase deletion mutant of EphA5. In approximately half of these transgenic mice, cerebral cortical neurons in various cortical regions (primary and secondary somatosensory cortices and frontal as well as visual areas) failed to project to the contralateral cortex. When commissural axons were examined with DiI labeling, few callosal fibers were found to traverse the midline in both the adult and neonatal transgenic mice. This defect in callosal development correlates with the expression of the transgene, because neurons in the superficial layers of the motor cortex, where transgene expression is low, show normal contralateral projection through the corpus callosum. In addition, multiple EphA receptors are expressed in callosal neurons and ephrin-A5 stimulates neurite outgrowth of callosal neurons in vitro. The midline glia structures important for callosal axon midline crossing appear normal in the transgenic mice, suggesting that the defects are unrelated to defective guidance structures at the midline. These observations suggest critical functions for EphA receptor in establishing callosal connections during brain development.