Changing Concepts in Developmental Neurobiology

作者：Viktor Hamburger · 发表于：Perspectives in biology and medicine · 年份：1975 · DOI：10.1353/pbm.1975.0002 · 被引用次数：19 · 研究领域：Axon Guidance and Neuronal Signaling、Microtubule and mitosis dynamics、Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation

CHANGING CONCEPTS IN DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROBIOLOGY* VIKTOR HAMBURGER^ I should like to take this opportunity to meditate on half a century of explorations in the field of experimental neurogenesis which I have witnessed or participated in. I shall do this in a rather personal and informal way. This, I am sure, would have the blessing of George Bishop, who had little use for formalities. To me it is still a miracle to watch the nervous system transform itself within a few weeks from a simple tube, composed of a few hundred seemingly undifferentiated embryonic cells, into the most complex organ system that has evolved in nature. So many interlocking production lines must operate with the highest precision, so many tightly programmed schedules must be met, so much could go wrong that one marvels that we all function as well as we do. But unraveling and understanding these intricacies is another matter. The neuroembryologist is overwhelmed by problems on the cellular, supercellular, and ultrastructural level. How do the literally hundreds of neuron strains, each with its own structural and biochemical identity, originate? How do they organize themselves into the supercellular units, the strata, columns, and nuclei in their precise topographic relationships? How is the circuitry established? How does an axon know on which dendritic spine to settle down? As if all this were not enough, we have to cope with the propensity of the neurons to establish intimate relations with any number o...