Absence of selectivity in the loss of neurons from the developing cortical subplate of the rat.

Neurons of the cortical subplate display evidence of cell death, although a significant population survives to the mature brain. The present study examined different populations of neurons to determine if the loss of cells was specific for a particular cell type. Immunocytochemical procedures for neurons expressing GluR2/3, GAD, or NPY, were used on tissue sections taken from animals at gestational day 18 to postnatal day 21. The rate of loss of labeled cells was similar for all groups of neurons. Thus, these data reveal no evidence that the loss of subplate neurons is specific to any major cell type.