In the developing

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the complex system, highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its behavior, actions and sense, sensory information by transmitting action potential, signals to and from different parts of its body. Th ...

, the basal plate is the region of the

neural tube In the developing chordate (including vertebrates), the neural tube is the embryonic precursor to the central nervous system, which is made up of the brain and spinal cord. The neural groove gradually deepens as the neural folds become elevated, ...

ventral to the sulcus limitans. It extends from the rostral mesencephalon to the end of the

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue that extends from the medulla oblongata in the lower brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone) of vertebrate animals. The center of the spinal c ...

and contains primarily motor

neuron A neuron (American English), neurone (British English), or nerve cell, is an membrane potential#Cell excitability, excitable cell (biology), cell that fires electric signals called action potentials across a neural network (biology), neural net ...

s, whereas neurons found in the alar plate are primarily associated with sensory functions. The cell types of the basal plate include lower motor neurons and four types of

interneuron Interneurons (also called internuncial neurons, association neurons, connector neurons, or intermediate neurons) are neurons that are not specifically motor neurons or sensory neurons. Interneurons are the central nodes of neural circuits, enab ...

. Initially, the left and right sides of the basal plate are continuous, but during neurulation they become separated by the floor plate, and this process is directed by the

notochord The notochord is an elastic, rod-like structure found in chordates. In vertebrates the notochord is an embryonic structure that disintegrates, as the vertebrae develop, to become the nucleus pulposus in the intervertebral discs of the verteb ...

. Differentiation of neurons in the basal plate is under the influence of the protein Sonic hedgehog released by ventralizing structures, such as the notochord and floor plate. Gray642.png, The basal plate (basal lamina) is separated from the alar plate (alar lamina) by the sulcus limitans (unlabeled).

References

;Bibliography *

External links

Overview at temple.edu
* {{Authority control Embryology of nervous system