It presents a broad outline of neural development principles as exemplified by key experiments and observations from past and recent times. The text is organized along a development pathway from the induction of the neural primordium to the emergence of behavior. It covers all the major topics including the patterning and growth of the nervous system, neuronal determination, axonal navigation and targeting, synapse formation and plasticity, and neuronal survival and death.
Table of Contents:
1. Neural induction
Development and evolution of neurons
Early embryology of metazoans
Derivation of neural tissue
Interactions with neighboring tissues in making neural tissue
The molecular nature of the neural inducer
Conservation of neural induction
Interactions among the ectodermal cells in controlling neuroblast segregation
Summary
2. Polarity and segmentation
Regional identity of the nervous system
The anterior-posterior axis and hox genes
Hox gene function in the vertebrate nervous system
Signaling molecules that pattern the anterior-posterior axis in vertebrates: heads or tails
Organizing centers in the developing brain
Forebrain development, prosomeres, and pax genes
Dorsal-ventral polarity in the neural tube
Dorsal neural tube and neural crest
Patterning the cerebral cortex
Summary
3. Genesis and migration
What determines the number of cells produced by the progenitors?
The generation of neurons and glia
Cerebral cortex histogenesis
Cerebellar cortex histogenesis
Molecular mechanisms of neuronal migration
Postembryonic and adult neurogenesis
Summary
4. Determination and differentiation
Transcriptional hierarchies in invariant lineages: C. elegans neurons
Spatial and temporal coordinates of determination: drosophila CNS neuroblasts
Asymmetric cell divisions and asymmetric fate
Generating complexity through cellular interactions: the drosophila retina
Specification and differentiation through cellular interactions and interactions with the local environment: the vertebrate neural crest
Competence and histogenesis: the mammalian cortex
The interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic influences in histogenesis: the vertebrate retina
Interpreting gradients and the spatial organization of cell types: spinal motor neurons
Summary
5. Axon growth and guidance
The growth cone
The dynamic cytoskeleton
Dendrite formation
What do growth cones grow on?
What provides directional information to growth cones?
Cell adhesion and labeled pathways
Repulsive guidance
Chemotaxis, gradients, and local information
Signal transduction
The midline: to cross or not to cross?
Attraction and repulsion: desensitization and adaptation
The optic pathway: getting there from here
Summary
6. Target selection
Defasciculation
Target recognition and target entry
Slowing down and branching in the target region
Border patrol: the prevention of inappropriate targeting
Topographic mapping
Chemospecificity and ephrins
The third dimension, lamina-specific termination
Cellular and synaptic targeting
Sniffing out targets
Shifting and fine tuning of connections
Summary
7. Naturally-occurring neuron death
What does neuron death look like?
Early elimination of progenitor cells
How many differentiated neurons die?
Survival depends on the synaptic target
NGF: a target-derived survival factor
The neurotrophin family
The trk family of neurotrophin receptors
How does the neurotrophin signal reach the soma?
The p75 neurotrophin receptor can initiate cell death
Cytokines act as neuron survival factors
Hormonal control of neuron survival
Cell death requires protein synthesis
Intracellular signaling pathways that mediate survival
Intracellular signaling pathways that mediate death
Caspases: agents of death
Bcl-2 proteins: regulators of programmed cell death
Removal of dying neurons
Synaptic transmission at the target
Afferent regulation of neuron survival
Intracellular calcium mediates both survival and death
Summary
8. Synapse formation and function
What do newly formed synapses look like?
Where Do Synapses Form on the Postsynaptic Cell?
How Rapidly Are Synapses Added to the Nervous System?
The first signs of synapse function
The decision to form a synapse
The sticky synapse
Converting growth cones to presynaptic terminals
Receptor clustering and postsynaptic differentiation at the NMJ
Agrin is a transynaptic clustering signal at the NMJ
Receptor clustering signals in the CNS
Scaffold proteins and receptor aggregation in the CNS
Innervation increases receptor expression and insertion
Synaptic activity regulates receptor density
Maturation of transmission and receptor isoform transitions
Maturation of transmitter reuptake
Short-term plasticity
Appearance of synaptic inhibition
Is inhibition really inhibitory during development?
Summary
9. Refinement of synaptic connections
The early pattern of connections
Functional synapses are eliminated
Many axonal arborizations are eliminated or refined
The Sensory Environment Influences Synaptic Connections
Activity Influences Synapse Elimination at the NMJ
Synapse refinement is reflected in sensory coding properties
Activity contributes to topography and the alignment of maps
Spontaneous activity and afferent refinement
Critical periods: enhanced plasticity during development
Heterosynaptic Depression and Synapse Elimination
Involvement of intracellular calcium
Calcium-activated second messenger systems
Gain control
Homeostatic plasticity: the more things change, the more they stay the same
Plasticity of inhibitory connections
Synaptic influence on neuron morphology
Summary
10. Behavioral development
Behavioral ontogeny
The first movements are spontaneous
The mechanism of spontaneous movements
More complex behavior is assembled from the integration of simple circuits
The role of activity in the emergence of coordinated behavior
Stage-specific behaviors
Genetic determinants of behavior
Environmental determinants of behavioral development
Beginning to make sense of the world
Asking babies questions (and getting some answers!)
Acute hearing
Sharp eyesight
Sex-specific behavior
Genetic sex
Hormonal control of brain gender
Singing in the brain
Genetic control of brain gender in flies
From Genome to Brain Gender in Vertebrates?
Genomic Imprinting: The Ultimate in Parental Control
Hit the Ground Learning
Learning preferences from aversions
Skill Learning: It Don’t Come Easy
Getting information from one brain to another
Language
Summary
Molecules and Genes Index
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