The Mouse Nervous System

The Mouse Nervous System

2012, Pages 36-50
The Mouse Nervous System

Chapter 3 - Genetic Neuroanatomy

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The use of gene expression patterns to demarcate regions of the developing nervous system of the mouse is a new approach for identifying subdivisions of the embryonic nervous system, in a manner independent of landmarks such as morphology and cytoarchitecture. This new approach is particularly important, as functional subdivisions of the nervous system in the adult are not obvious in the embryo, because the developing neural tube is divided morphologically into only a few broad regions, and cytoarchitecture is poorly developed. Some of the first indications that gene expression patterns could be used to identify regions of the brain came from the initial studies of Hox gene expression in the hindbrain and Engrailed gene expression in the mesencephalon (midbrain) and anterior hindbrain. The techniques for genetic fate mapping are becoming more refined and more powerful. The use of gene expression to define the embryonic origins of specific regions of the adult brain has had a major impact on developmental neurobiology. The approach is based on a critical assumption that the cells that express a gene in the embryo, do indeed give rise to the predicted adult structures. Genetic fate mapping has also been applied to the forebrain in order to determine whether spatial domains give rise to specific cell types. An important question in neural development is how different cell types are generated from the same pool of proliferating progenitor cells. An important area of research in which fate mapping of genetic neuroanatomy is proving extremely valuable is the analysis of neurological defects in mouse mutants. Studying genetic neuroanatomy utilizing these rapidly evolving genetic fate mapping strategies will become a key approach for understanding the cellular and genetic mechanisms that regulate development of the nervous system.

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