Birth-date dependent alignment of GABAergic neurons occurs in a different pattern from that of non-GABAergic neurons in the developing mouse visual cortex.

In the developing mouse cerebral cortex, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic neurons and non-GABAergic neurons arise in distinct places and migrate into the cortical plate (CP) via different pathways. Although the "inside-out" alignment of projection neurons in the cortex has been thoroughly analyzed, the pattern of interneuron alignment is not well understood. Herein, we show that in the postnatal day (P) 9.5 mouse visual cortex, GABAergic neurons born on embryonic day (E) 12.5 were distributed around two peak locations, mainly around layer V and also around layer II/III, while non-GABAergic neurons born on E12.5 were distributed around only one peak in layer VI. Both cell populations born on E15.5 exhibited only one common peak distribution in layer II/III. The two peak locations of GABAergic neurons born on E12.5 still existed at P30. When the subtypes of GABAergic neurons were analyzed, calretinin-positive cells born on E12.5 were distributed in the cortex around one peak location near layer II/III, whereas somatostatin-positive E12.5 cells were distributed in the cortex around one peak location near layer V. These results suggest that the alignment of interneurons is regulated differently according to subtypes and from that of projection neurons having the same embryonic day of origin.