Comparison of thalamic populations in mammals and birds: expression of ErbB4 mRNA
Introduction
Our ideas of brain evolution are continually being tested and adapted as we learn more about connections, development, histochemical markers, and genetic expression. The identification of homologous pallial areas in the tetrapod telencephalon has been particularly difficult. The search for comparable brain regions has produced several major lines of thought, including the suggestion that the basolateral amygdalar complex of mammals and the dorsal ventricular ridge (neostriatum) of reptiles and birds are homologous 4, 5, 6. This concept has been intensely debated 8, 22, 30, 31, 36, 37. However, studies using developmental and genetic expression techniques have led to a growing consensus of opinion that a large portion of the reptilian/avian dorsal ventricular ridge is homologous to the mammalian amygdala, and perhaps also to the mammalian claustrum 31, 36, 37.
The telencephalic regions of mammals, reptiles, and birds are intimately connected with specific dorsal thalamic groups. A valid hypothesis of telencephalic evolution must be consistent with identified thalamic homologues, including their connections, development, histochemistry, and genetic expression. Thus, if the basolateral amygdalar complex of mammals is comparable to most of the dorsal ventricular ridge of birds and reptiles, then the thalamic nuclei that project to these regions should also be comparable. Based on connectional and histochemical analyses, nuclei in the posterior/intralaminar complex of mammals and the rotundus-ovoidalis-pararotundal nuclei of reptiles and birds have been suggested as likely homologues 6, 10.
Analyses of homologous gene expression domains suggest that the patterns of expression of early developmental genes are largely conserved 16, 32, 33, 34, 36. The aim of the present investigation was to compare the mRNA expression profile of the ErbB4 receptor gene in chicks and rats to identify potentially homologous thalamic regions. ErbB4 is a functional tyrosine kinase receptor for the neuregulin gene family of growth/differentiation factors 7, 43. The expression pattern of the ErbB4 receptor was selected because it appears to be stable throughout development and it is expressed in the posterior region of the rat thalamus, a region that is critical for understanding forebrain evolution.
Section snippets
Preparation of tissue
Adult rats were sacrificed by an injection with Beuthanasia [30–40 mg/kg, intraperitoneally (i.p.)]. The brains were removed, embedded in Tissue-Tek OCT compound (Electron Microscopy Sciences, Fort Washington, PA, USA), rapidly frozen, and sectioned using a cryostat at 16 μm onto Superfrost Plus slides (Fisher Chemical Co., Orangeburg, NY, USA). Chick embryos were obtained from fertilized eggs. The eggs were incubated from embryonic day 0 to 16 at 38°C. On embryonic day 16, the chick embryos
Results
This study addresses the ErbB4 expression pattern in the epithalamus, the dorsal thalamus, and the ventral thalamus. ErbB4 mRNA is expressed in many areas of the brain and displays specific patterns of labeling, which will not be addressed in this paper. Cells that were associated with overlying clusters of silver grains at least 10 times greater than background were considered to express ErbB4 mRNA FIG. 1, FIG. 2. The morphology of the labeled cells within the posterior thalamic region
Discussion
The present results in rat and chick demonstrate that neurons throughout the epithalamus (habenula) and the ventral thalamus express ErbB4 mRNA. Thus, our data are consistent with previous studies suggesting that these are homologous areas. The labeling pattern among the dorsal thalamic nuclei, however, is restricted to selected populations of neurons. This segregation suggests that expression of ErbB4 mRNA may be used to identify possible homologues in the dorsal thalamus of mammals and
Abbreviations
- APT
anterior pretectal nucleus
- CL
central lateral thalamic nucleus
- DIP
nucleus dorsointermedius posterior thalami
- DLL
nucleus dorsolateralis anterior, pars lateralis
- DLM
nucleus dorsolateralis anterior, pars medialis
- DLP
nucleus dorsolateralis posterior
- DMA
nucleus dorsomedialis anterior
- DMP
nucleus dorsomedialis posterior
- fr
fasciculus retroflexus
- Glv
nucleus geniculatus lateralis, pars ventralis
- IMD
intermediodorsal thalamic nucleus
- LGd
lateral geniculate nucleus, pars dorsalis
- LGv
lateral geniculate nucleus, pars
Acknowledgements
We thank Drs. Loreta Medina and Luis Puelles for organizing and hosting this meeting. We also thank Dr. Phil Brauer for providing the fertilized chick eggs and Kerstin Lundgren and Caroline A. Miller for excellent technical assistance. This study was supported in part by National Institute of Health grant NS39128.
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