PRECURSOR CELL-TYPES IN THE GERMINAL ZONE OF THE CEREBRAL-CORTEX

Retroviral lineage tracing experiments suggest that the cortical ventr icular zone is composed of a mixture of precursor cell types. The majo rity generate a single cell type (neurones, astrocytes or oligodendroc ytes) and the remainder generate neurones and a single type of glial c ell. Pluripotential precursor cells, that have the ability to generate all three cell types, are not observed. A recent paper, however, repo rts that when single ventricular zone cells are cultured in isolation, a small percentage of these cells are pluripotential((1)). This revie w will discuss what this knowledge tells us about cortical development .