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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Apr 20.
Published in final edited form as: Nature. 2011 Sep 28;478(7369):382–386. doi: 10.1038/nature10487

Figure 2. The infant human rostral migratory stream connects the subventricular zone to the olfactory peduncle.

Figure 2

Reconstruction of serial sagittal sections of a hematoxylin-stained RMS from inferior lateral ventricle (V) to olfactory peduncle (OP) of an infant specimen (5 months of age). The subventricular source of the proximal RMS shows multiple tributaries of cells (yellow arrows) that appear to coalesce forming the descending (proximal) limb of the RMS. There is no evidence of a continuous ventricular system, but isolated ependymal islets (yellow arrowheads) are observed along the RMS. The distal limb of the RMS moves laterally, out of the sagittal plane of sectioning, as indicated by the yellow section frames. (a, b) Illustrations indicating the anatomic site, plane, and orientation of tissue sectioning, as described above. F=frontal lobe, T=temporal lobe, LV=lateral ventricle, RMS=rostral migratory stream, OB=olfactory bulb. (c) The yellow rectangle indicated along the proximal limb of the RMS demonstrates clusters of DCX(+)PSA-NCAM(+) immature neurons at higher magnification. (d) Individual DCX(+) neuronal chains, seen here in the ventral tip of the anterior horn of a 1-week specimen, are typically embedded in a matrix of GFAP(+) glial processes and often migrate along blood vessels (see Supp. Fig 4d). (e) Ultrastructural analysis of a neuronal chain cross-section identifies immature neurons (type A cells, labeled ‘a’) surrounded by glia (type B cells, labeled ‘b’). Scale bars = 500mm (reconstruction), 50µm (c), and 10µm (d).