About this Research Topic
The neocortex is the seat of the higher cognitive functions that shape the human experience. The evolutionary expansion leading to its current size in different animals are linked to changes in the number, diversity, morphology and proliferative potential of
neural stem and progenitor cells during cortical development.
In the last two decades, we have witnessed an increased understanding of the cell biological basis of neural stem cell contributions to brain development, and this contribution has been increasingly framed in an evolutionary context.
Historically, the cell biological study of brain development has been driven and influenced by the study of brain diseases and their related genes. A major theme emerging from these studies has been the role of cell polarity, centrosomes and the cytoskeleton in the pathophysiology of disorders, and from there to the physiology of
neural stem and progenitor cells.
In this Focus issue, we provide an overview of how these themes have been expanded to include metabolism, membrane organization and cell asymmetry, for both the ontogeny and phylogeny of the brain. We also provide a perspective on what we think will be the next step, the integration of additional players to the study of neural stem and progenitor cells in brain development and evolution: the skull and the vasculature from a histological point of view, and the glial cells from a cellular point of view.
Keywords: Brain evo-devo, Neural stem cell, Brain development, Brain evolution, Skull, Evolutionary cell biology, Vasculature, Traffic, Centrosome
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