Figure 4.
Limbic system progenitor pools in the rodent embryonic brain. Schematic of a coronal view of an embryonic brain at midneurogenesis (∼E14) reveals expression patterns of select transcription factors along the ventricular zones of the telencephalon and diencephalon. Combinatorial codes of transcription factor expression during embryogenesis determine the identity of neurons destined for various brain regions. A large portion of amygdala neuronal populations arise from two regions of the developing brain: the pallial-subpallial boundary (blue) and preoptic area (yellow) each of which express unique combinations of transcription factors. Areas of the hypothalamus also express regionally specific transcription factors: for example Sim1 (orange) is expressed more dorsally to specify cells in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), while Nra51 (red) is expressed ventrally and specifies neurons in the ventral medial hypothalamus (VMH).