Nature: What makes brain cells develop in a specific order

The researchers have identified 10 complete factors that control the development of brain cell types in the fruit fly visual system, including the order in which these neurons develop

The human brain consists of 80 billion neurons

While scientists have discovered many types of neurons, how this complexity arises during brain development is a central question in developmental neurobiology and regenerative medicine

"Understanding how the human brain develops will allow us to replicate these developmental processes in future laboratories, generating specific types of neurons in petri dishes and potentially transplanting them into patients, or in living organisms Trigger neural stem cells to generate and replace missing neurons

Because studying the human brain is an extremely complex endeavor, researchers rely on model organisms, such as mice and flies, to explore the complex mechanisms involved in brain processes

The mechanism by which neural stem cells generate different neurons over time is called temporal patterning

In the study published in the journal Nature, the researchers studied the brain of the fruit fly and found that the complete ttf required to generate about 120 neuron types in the medulla oblongata, a specific brain in the fly's visual system structure

Focusing on neural stem cells, the researchers discovered a complete set of ttfs that define distinct temporal windows in this brain region, and the genetic networks that control the expression of these different ttfs that allow the progression of this temporal cascade

"Using existing antibodies, several TTFs have been identified in the visual system of the brain; we have identified a comprehensive series of 10 TTFs that can specify all neuron types in this brain region

The researchers then identified the genetic interactions that allow the progression of the temporal cascade, and how this progression is related to the "birth order" of all neurons in the medulla oblongata, linking specific time windows to the generation of specific types of neurons

"Injury that progresses in a temporal cascade leads to a reduction in neuronal diversity and therefore alters brain development," said Isabel Holguera, a postdoctoral researcher in NYU's Department of Biology and one of the study's first authors

Finally, the team examined the first step in the maturation of neural stem cells into neurons, a stage known as the differentiation stage of neuronal development

"Our findings suggest that understanding the mechanisms of neuronal development in Drosophila can help us understand the same process of neuronal development in humans," said Anthony Rossi, one of the paper's first authors

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A complete temporal transcription factor series in the fly visual system