[The degenerative process during development of the corpus callosum]

The ontogenesis of the corpus callosum is inextricably linked with the various processes controlling prosencephalic development. Our study is based on series of frontal and sagittal sections through the prosencephalon of 16 and 17 day mouse embryos and on ultrathin sections of the septum, particularly of the zone where the callosal fibres cross. The septum, which contains the first callosal fibres, does not undergo the fusional process described by other authors. The passage of pioneer fibres from one hemisphere to the other is preceded by the degeneration and death of the atrocytes of the cortical plate in the fundus of the interhemispheric issure, and by proliferation of the subependymal cells. The proliferation and migration of the subependymal cells from the medial angles of the lateral ventricles may well assist the passage of pioneering callosal fibres.