engleski

ECM Expression pattern in the human fetal cingulate gyrus and its relevance in malformations of cortical development

A complex system of the cingulate gyrus connections with other brain regions, underlie some malformations of cortical development (MCD) such as autism and epilepsy. Quantity and composition of ECM of the transient developmental zones of the human fetal brain play a crucial role during cortical development. ECM serves as a substrate through which cells migrate and reach their final position. Cingulate gyrus shows different transitory expression pattern of tenascin, neurocan, hyaluronan, glypican and other ECM in comparison to lateral cortical regions, with the most evident difference seen in the marginal zone and the subplate zone. Some of the axon guidance molecules (e.g., Sema5A) show specificities of expression in the medial cortical wall. Since ECM and axon guidance molecules have an important role in neuronal migration, axon elongation, and connectivity formation our goal is to identify the ECM expression profile in the normal fetal brain and concerning the disturbances of ECM expression pattern, its relevance in the pathogenesis of MCD at the vulnerable time points. By the comparative histological-MRI approach (correlating results achieved by immunohistochemical, layer specific transcriptome and in situ MRI method), histological and MRI normotypic parameters will be established as an additional tool in the research and follow-up of pathological features in malformed fetal brains (The study is supported by AF14/17 ; UniZg0054 ; Croatian Science Foundation Grant 2015-10-3939 and CoRE – Neuro No.KK.01.1.1.01.0007).

limbic cortex ; tenascin C ; neurocan

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