Distinct migratory behavior of early- and late-born neurons derived from the cortical ventricular zone

Time-lapse studies indicate that ventricular zone (VZ)-derived cells show two migratory modes in the cerebral cortex at different stages of mammalian embryogenesis: somal translocation and locomotion. We carried out a systematic analysis to examine whether the migratory behavior of cortical neurons derived from the cortical VZ is stage-dependent. We labeled VZ cells of mouse embryos with green fluorescent protein (gfp) -encoding plasmids by in utero electroporation and evaluated the labeled cells after appropriate survival periods. After electroporation at either embryonic day (E) 12.5 or E15.5, GFP+ VZ cells were initially spindle-shaped and radially oriented. After leaving the VZ, they transformed into round or horizontally oriented fusiform neurons with many short processes. They then seemed to gradually change into radially oriented bipolar cells as they moved upward. Whereas the earliest emigrants from the VZ labeled at E12.5 (early-born neurons) reached the top of the cortical plate (CP) after these changes, VZ cells labeled at E15.5 (late-born neurons) further migrated along the length of radial fibers to reach the top of the CP. A dominant negative form of the gene for cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5DN) was then introduced into VZ cells. Transfection of E12.5 VZ with cdk5dn did not disrupt the migration of the early-born neurons. However, this caused a failure in migration of the late-born neurons, although they transformed into bipolar shapes in the intermediate zone. Thus, there appear to be at least two distinct migratory phases of cortical neurons: one common to the early- and late-born neurons, and the other specific to late-born neurons and Cdk5-dependent.