The subplate, also called the subplate zone, together with the
marginal zone and the
cortical plate, in the
fetus represents the developmental
anlage of the mammalian
cerebral cortex. It was first described, as a separate transient fetal zone by
Ivica Kostović
Ivica Kostović (born 7 June 1943) is a Croatian politician and physician.
He was born in Zagreb. After receiving a degree in medicine in 1967 at the University of Zagreb, he worked in the Institute for Anatomy Drago Perović at the School of Me ...
and
Mark E. Molliver
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Finn ...
in 1974.
During the midfetal period of
fetal development the subplate zone is the largest zone in the developing
telencephalon. It serves as a waiting compartment for growing cortical
afferent
Afferent may refer to:
Anatomical structures
Meaning "conveying towards a center":
* Afferent arterioles, blood vessels that supply the nephrons
* Afferent lymphatic vessels, lymph vessels that carry lymph to a lymph node
* Afferent nerve fiber ...
s; its cells are involved in the establishment of pioneering cortical
efferent
Efferent may refer to:
Anatomical structures
Meaning 'conveying away from a center':
*Efferent arterioles, conveying blood away from the Bowman's capsule in the kidney
*Efferent nerve fiber, carries nerve impulses away from the central nervous sy ...
projections and transient fetal circuitry, and apparently have a number of other developmental roles. The subplate zone is a
phylogenetically
In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...
recent structure and it is most developed in the
human brain.
Subplate neurons (SPNs) are among the first generated
neurons
A neuron, neurone, or nerve cell is an electrically excitable cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses. The neuron is the main component of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoa. N ...
in the
mammalian cerebral cortex . These neurons disappear during
postnatal development and are important in establishing the correct wiring and functional maturation of the cerebral cortex.
Subplate neurons appear to be selectively sensitive to injury (such as
hypoxia
Hypoxia means a lower than normal level of oxygen, and may refer to:
Reduced or insufficient oxygen
* Hypoxia (environmental), abnormally low oxygen content of the specific environment
* Hypoxia (medical), abnormally low level of oxygen in the tis ...
) which in
humans are associated with motor and
cognitive
Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...
defects .
Subplate neurons are the first cortical neurons to receive synaptic inputs from
thalamic
The thalamus (from Greek θάλαμος, "chamber") is a large mass of gray matter located in the dorsal part of the diencephalon (a division of the forebrain). Nerve fibers project out of the thalamus to the cerebral cortex in all directions, ...
axons, establishing a temporary link between thalamic axons and their final target in layer IV.. Later, thalamic axons invade layer IV where they innervate layer IV neurons. In the visual system thalamic axons to layer IV form
ocular dominance column Ocular dominance columns are stripes of neurons in the visual cortex of certain mammals (including humans) that respond preferentially to input from one eye or the other. The columns span multiple cortical layers, and are laid out in a striped patt ...
s and this segregation of thalamic axons is impaired if subplate neurons are missing .
See also
*
Cerebral Cortex
*
Cortical column
A cortical column is a group of neurons forming a cylindrical structure through the cerebral cortex of the brain perpendicular to the cortical surface. The structure was first identified by Mountcastle in 1957. He later identified cortical minicolu ...
*
Cerebral hemisphere
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
References
{{Reflist
Developmental neuroscience
Cerebral cortex