Dual midbrain and forebrain origins of thalamic inhibitory interneurons
- King's College London, United Kingdom
- Imperial College London, United Kingdom
- University College London, United Kingdom
- RIKEN, Japan
- Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, United States
- Johns Hopkins University, United States
- Centor for Brain Science, Japan
Abstract
The ubiquitous presence of inhibitory interneurons in the thalamus of primates contrasts with the sparsity of interneurons reported in mice. Here, we identify a larger than expected complexity and distribution of interneurons across the mouse thalamus, where all thalamic interneurons can be traced back to two developmental programs: one specified in the midbrain and the other in the forebrain. Interneurons migrate to functionally distinct thalamocrtical nuclei depending on their origin: the abundant, midbrain-generated class populates the first and higher order sensory thalamus while the rarer, forebrain-generated class is restricted to some higher order associative regions. We also observe that markers for the midbrain-born class are abundantly expressed throughout the thalamus of the New World monkey marmoset. These data therefore reveal that, despite the broad variability in interneuron density across mammalian species, the blueprint of the ontogenetic organisation of thalamic interneurons of larger-brained mammals exists and can be studied in mice.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/L020068/1)
- Alessio Delogu
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/R007020/1)
- Alessio Delogu
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/R007659/1)
- Stephen Brickley
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/J021199/1)
- Simon R Schultz
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/L016737/1)
- Gerald Moore
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: Mice: Housing and experimental procedures were approved by the King's College London Ethical Committee and conformed to the regulations of the UK Home Office personal and project licences under the UK Animals (Scientific Procedures) 1986 Act.Marmoset: All experiments were conducted in accordance with the guidelines approved by the RIKEN Institutional Animal Care (W2020-2-022).
Copyright
© 2021, Jager et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Dual midbrain and forebrain origins of thalamic inhibitory interneurons
eLife 10:e59272.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.59272
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