Xenotransplanted Human Cortical Neurons Reveal Species-Specific Development and Functional Integration into Mouse Visual Circuits.

ABSTRACT: How neural circuits develop in the human brain has remained almost impossible to study at the neuronal level. Here, we investigate human cortical neuron development, plasticity, and function using a mouse/human chimera model in which xenotransplanted human cortical pyramidal neurons integrate as single cells into the mouse cortex. Combined neuronal tracing, electrophysiology, and in vivo structural and functional imaging of the transplanted cells reveal a coordinated developmental roadmap recapitulating key milestones of human cortical neuron development. The human neurons display a prolonged developmental timeline, indicating the neuron-intrinsic retention of juvenile properties as an important component of human brain neoteny. Following maturation, human neurons in the visual cortex disp

SUBMITTER: Linaro D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6899440 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature