Neuronal corridors

Neurons migrating from afar do more than create diversity in their new neighborhood. They also build bridges for synaptic connections that would otherwise be impossible, according to new findings from Guillermina López-Bendito, Aline Cautinat, Oscar Marín (Universidad Miguel Hernández, Sant Joan d'Alacant, Spain), Sonia Garel (École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France), and colleagues.

Most brain neurons migrate in a radial pattern during development, moving almost directly outward from their origin. But a few classes of neurons migrate in more complex patterns. Interneurons of the cortex, for example, are generated by ventral progenitors that then migrate dorsally, thus introducing a different neuronal subtype in the region.

A novel set of such “tangentially” migrating cells, which the authors call corridor cells, are now...