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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Feb 3.
Published in final edited form as: Science. 2013 Jul 5;341(6141):1237758. doi: 10.1126/science.1237758

Fig. 2. Cortical development—origins of pyramidal neurons and astrocytes in the cerebral cortex.

Fig. 2

(A) A neuroepithelial cell (red) at the ventricular zone serves as progenitor for both a pyramidal neuron (green-blue) as well as a radial glial cell (gold). (B) A newly differentiated neuron (blue) migrates along a radial glial process. (C) Neurons (blue) continue to migrate as intermediate progenitor cells (small yellow) form. (D) Intermediate progenitor cells begin to generate neurons (blue). (E) The progenitor cells in the ventricular zone begin to give rise to astrocytes (dark green). Interneurons (purple) generated elsewhere migrate tangentially. CP, cortical plate; IZ, intermediate zone; VZ, ventricular zone. The VZ early in development has a thickness of ~10 cell bodies (50 to 100 μm). The CP ranges in thickness from two to three cell bodies at the earliest stages of development, eventually forming a mature cerebral cortex that is 2 to 4 mm thick.