Cell Death and Differentiation (2002) 9, 1279 ± 1286 ã 2002 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved 1350-9047/02 $25.00 www.nature.com/cdd Review The olfactory bulb as an independent developmental domain LLo pez-Mascaraque*,1,3 and F de Castro2,3 established. Does it awake the developmental program of the cells at the site being innervated or, does their arrival simply 1 Instituto Cajal-C.S.I.C., Madrid, Spain serve to refine the later steps of the developmental program? 2 Hospital RamoÂn y Cajal, Madrid, Spain In order to address this question, much attention has been 3 Both authors contributed equally to this work focused on the sophisticated development of the mammalian * Corresponding author: L LoÂpez-Mascaraque, Instituto Cajal, CSIC, Avenida del cerebral cortex where two different theories have been Doctor Arce 37, 28002 Madrid, Spain. Tel: 915854708; Fax: 915854754; E-mail:
[email protected] proposed to explain the mechanisms underlying its formation. In the `protomap' model, cortical regions are patterned prior to Received 13.2.02; revised 30.4.02; accepted 7.5.02 the migration of the newborn neurons (intrinsic control),1 an Edited by G Melino event presumably specified by important molecular determi- nants.2 In this model, the arrival of innervating axons would Abstract merely serve to modify and refine the protomap (an important The olfactory system is a good model to study the facet of maintenance). In the second model, the `protocortex' theory, the newborn cortical neurons are a homogeneous cell mechanisms underlying guidance of growing axons to their population, that later on in corticogenesis are patterned into appropriate targets.