PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Hidenori Tabata
AU  - Kazunori Nakajima
TI  - Multipolar Migration: The Third Mode of Radial Neuronal Migration in the Developing Cerebral Cortex
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.23-31-09996.2003
DP  - 2003 Nov 05
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 9996--10001
VI  - 23
IP  - 31
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/23/31/9996.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/23/31/9996.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2003 Nov 05; 23
AB  - Two distinct modes of radial neuronal migration, locomotion and somal translocation, have been reported in the developing cerebral cortex. Although these two modes of migration have been well documented, the cortical intermediate zone contains abundant multipolar cells, and they do not resemble the cells migrating by locomotion or somal translocation. Here, we report that these multipolar cells express neuronal markers and extend multiple thin processes in various directions independently of the radial glial fibers. Time-lapse analysis of living slices revealed that the multipolar cells do not have any fixed cell polarity, and that they very dynamically extend and retract multiple processes as their cell bodies slowly move. They do not usually move straight toward the pial surface during their radial migration, but instead frequently change migration direction and rate; sometimes they even remain in almost the same position, especially when they are in the subventricular zone. Occasionally, the multipolar cells jump tangentially during their radial migration. Because the migration modality of these cells clearly differs from locomotion or somal translocation, we refer to their novel type of migration as “multipolar migration.” In view of the high proportion of cells exhibiting multipolar migration, this third mode of radial migration must be an important type of migration in the developing cortex.