No.7/March 16, 2005
New Insights into the Development of Nerve Cells of the Spinal Cord
The most important relay center for transmitting sensory
perceptions from the body into the brain is the spinal cord in the vertebral
column. One zone plays a significant role in this ─ the dorsal horn in which the
nerve cells are found that receive, process, and transmit sensory perceptions.
For instance, a touch on the skin can be experienced consciously because
neurons of the dorsal horn transmit this sensory perception. The complex closed
loops in which these neurons are active are already established during
embryonic development. Two different classes of neurons in the dorsal horn of
the spinal cord, A and B, can be differentiated during embryonic development.
Class A neurons are responsible, among other things, for the transmission of
information about the position of the body and the extremities; class B neurons
are responsible for sensations of touch, temperature, and pain of the skin.
However, to date very little has been known about the factors that steer the
development of these different neuron classes. Now, developmental biologists
from the
*The bHLH factor
Olig3 coordinates the specification of dorsal neurons in the spinal cord Thomas Müller1,3, Katrin Anlag2,3, Hendrik
Wildner1, Stefan Britsch1, Mathias Treier2* and Carmen Birchmeier1* 1Max 2European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 3 authors contributed equally *Corresponding authors: C. B.: Phone: +49 30 9406 2403; Fax +49 30 9406 3765; e-mail:
cbirch@mdc-berlin.de M. T.: Phone: +49-6221-387 428; Fax +49-6221-387 166; e-mail: treier@embl.de
Barbara Bachtler
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