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Concept
Ganglionic eminence
Summary
The ganglionic eminence (GE) is a transitory structure in the development of the nervous system that guides cell and axon migration. It is present in the embryonic and fetal stages of neural development found between the thalamus and caudate nucleus.
The eminence is divided into three regions of the ventral ventricular zone of the telencephalon (a lateral, medial and caudal eminence), where they facilitate tangential cell migration during embryonic development. Tangential migration does not involve interactions with radial glial cells; instead the interneurons migrate perpendicularly through the radial glial cells to reach their final location. The characteristics and function of the cells that follow the tangential migration pathway seem to be closely related to the location and precise timing of their production, and the GEs contribute significantly to building up the GABAergic cortical cell population. Another structure that the GEs contribute to is the basal ganglia. The GEs also guide the axons growing from the thalamus into the cortex and vice versa.
In humans, the GEs disappear by one year of age. During development, neuronal migration continues until the extinction of the germ layer, at which point the remnants from the germ layer make up the eminences.
Ganglionic eminences are categorized into three groups based on their location within the subventricular zone:
Medial ganglionic eminence (MGE)
Lateral ganglionic eminence (LGE)
Caudal ganglionic eminence (CGE)
A sulcus separates the medial and lateral ganglionic eminences. The expression of Nkx2-1, Gsx2, and Pax6 is required to determine the independent progenitor cell populations in the LGE and MGE. Interactions between these three genes define the boundaries between the different progenitor zones and mutations of these genes can cause abnormal expansion around the MGE, LGE, ventral pallium (VP), and anterior entopeduncular region (AEP). The cells of the GEs are quite homogenous, with the MGE, LGE, and CGE all having small, dark, irregular nuclei and moderately dense cytoplasm, however, each eminence can be identified by the type of progeny that it produces.
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