Ariadne’s Thread in the Developing Cerebral Cortex: Mechanisms Enabling the Guiding Role of the Radial Glia Basal Process during Neuron Migration

Radial neuron migration in the developing cerebral cortex is a complex journey, starting in the germinal zones and ending in the cortical plate. In mice, migratory distances can reach several hundreds of microns, or millimeters in humans. Along the migratory path, radially migrating neurons slither through cellularly dense and complex territories before they reach their final destination in the cortical plate. This task is facilitated by radial glia, the neural stem cells of the developing cortex. Indeed, radial glia have a unique bipolar morphology, enabling them to serve as guides for neuronal migration. The key guiding structure of radial glia is the basal process, which traverses the entire thickness of the developing cortex. Neurons recognize the basal process as their guide and maintain physical interactions with this structure until the end of migration. Thus, the radial glia basal process plays a key role during radial migration. In this review, we highlight the pathways enabling neuron-basal process interactions during migration, as well as the known mechanisms regulating the morphology of the radial glia basal process. Throughout, we describe how dysregulation of these interactions and of basal process morphology can have profound effects on cortical development, and therefore lead to neurodevelopmental diseases.