Glossary
Agyria
A malformation of the cerebral cortex in which the convolutions are not fully formed and thus give a smooth appearance.
Alar plates
A neural structure in the developing
dorsal neural tube of the embryo. It involves the communication between general visceral and somatic inputs and ultimately develops into the sensory axon part of the spinal cord.
Antagonism
A process by which a cell has a blocking or inhibitory effect on a pathway.
Arbor
Electrical stimulation is transmitted onto dendrites by upstream neurons via synapses that are located at various points throughout the dendritic arbor. Arbor is Latin for “Tree”.
bHLH factor
Myogenic regulatory factors are basic-helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors that regulate myogenesis, such as MyoD, Myf5, myogenin and MRF4. These proteins contain a conserved basic DNA binding domain that binds the E box DNA motif. They dimerize with other HLH containing proteins...
Cajal-Retzius cells
Reelin producing neurons of the embryonic marginal zone. They have radial processes that ascend to the pial surface and a horizontal axon plexus located in the deeper marginal zone.
Cell lineage
A specific path of cell differentiation where a certain “target” cell is ultimately formed after lots of cell divisions and differentiations.
Cell-cycle
Series of events that take place in a cell leading to its division and duplication (replication). It has several stages like the Resting (G0) phase, the Interphase (G1, S and G2 phases) and Mitosis (M Phase)
Chemoattractant/Chemorepellent
Organic or inorganic substances possessing chemotaxis-inducer effect in motile cells being capable of changing the direction of movement. Chemotaxis is positive if the chemical is an attractant (chemoattractant) and is negative if the chemical is a repellent (chemorepellent).
Downregulation
A process by which a cell decreases the quantity of a cellular component in response to an external variable.
Feedback mechanism
A process in which the information about the initial event forms the basis for subsequent modification of an event. This event forms a part of a chain of cause-and-effect that makes a circuit or a loop. There are two types of feedback mechanisms, positive and negative.
Gestation
The carrying of an embryo or fetus during pregnancy inside the womb.
Histogenesis
Formation of different tissues from undifferentiated cells. These cells are constituents of three primary germ layers, the endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm.
