Following Cellular Lineage in the Human Forebrain

A group of researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine led an investigation that offers new insight into the development of the human forebrain.

The study, led by Changuk Chung, Ph.D., and Xiaoxu Yang, Ph.D., both from the laboratory of Joseph G. Gleeson, M.D., at the  School of Medicine Department of Neurosciences and the Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine, provide a greater understanding of how the human brain develops at the cellular level.

The study also presents evidence for the existence of the source of inhibitory neurons (dInNs) in the human brain that differ from origins in other species like mice, a common lab animal used in brain studies. The group outlined their findings in a paper recently published in the journal Nature.

The forebrain, or cerebral cortex, is the largest part of the brain, important for a wide range of function, ranging from cognitive thought, vision, attention and memory. Neurons are cells that serve as the individual circuits of the brain. Inhibitory neurons usually function as a kind of neural “off” switch, as opposed to the “on” switch of excitatory neurons.

“Humans have a very large and wrinkled cortex that likely supports higher cognitive functions compared with other species, such as rodents,” Gleeson explained.

“We hope our paper helps other researchers generate better models of neurological disease, and which types of brain diseases can result from impaired development,” Gleeson concluded.

Reference: Chung C, Yang X, Hevner RF, et al. Cell-type-resolved mosaicism reveals clonal dynamics of the human forebrain. Nature. 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07292-5

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