An intermediate target for axons leaving the cerebral cortex in embryonic mammals is the ganglionic eminence (GE), the embryonic precursor of the basal ganglia. The cues that direct these axons over the initial portion of their trajectory are not well understood, but could include both short-range and long-range attractants and repellents. In the present study, we provide evidence that corticofugal axons might be guided at least partly by a diffusible factor or factors originating in the lateral GE and the sulcus between the lateral and medial ridges of the GE (ISS), as well as evidence implicating the axonal chemoattractant netrin-1 in mediating these effects.

Explants of lateral GE and ISS obtained from E12.5 and E13.5 mouse forebrain have a strong effect on both the outgrowth and orientation of corticofugal axons when cultured at a distance with explants of embryonic cortex in collagen gels. Netrin-1 mRNA is detected in these target tissues by in situ hybridization, and both netrin-1 protein and heterologous cells secreting netrin-1 can mimic the outgrowth-promoting effect of these target tissues in vitro. Furthermore, the growth of corticofugal axons is oriented toward an ectopic source of netrin-1 in vitro, and a function blocking anti-netrin-1 antiserum specifically abolishes the cortical axon outgrowth elicited by explants of lateral GE and the ISS in collagen gel cocultures.

Taken together, these results suggest a role for netrin-1 in the attraction at a distance of early cortical axons by the GE. Thus in mammals – as is also observed in nematodes – the development of non-commissural projections in anterior regions of the embryo might be directed by mechanisms similar to those involved in directing the development of commissural projections in more posterior regions of the central nervous system.