Impact of area patterning genes on corticopontine projection topography: Microscopic visualization of genetically controlled yellow fluorescence protein expression in Nr2f1 conditional knockout mice lacking progenitor or postmitotic expression of Nr2f1 (v1)

This data set comprises a collection of fluorescence microscopy images of serial sagittal mouse brain sections showing yellow fluorescent protein expression in cortico-specific Nr2f1 (also known as COUP-TFI) conditional knockout mice. Transgenic mice were generated by crossing Nr2f1-floxed mice with 1) Emx1-Cre-recombinase mice to inactivate Nr2f1 exclusively in cortical progenitors and their progeny, or 2) Nex-Cre-recombinase mice to abolish Nr2f1 expression from postmitotic neurons. The animals were further crossed with the reporter Thy1-eYFP-H mouse line to specifically label layer V projection neurons. Littermate Nr2f1-floxed mice without the presence of the Cre-recombinase gene (Cre-negatives) were considered controls. Microscopic images acquired using a 10x objective show that 1) early loss of Nr2f1 leads to increased and abnormal corticopontine innervation at the expense of corticospinal projections, and 2) late postmitotic Nr2f1 inactivation alters topographic pontine mapping. The data have been used to demonstrate that proper area mapping of the neocortical primordium is a pre-requisite for correct establishment of topographically organized corticopontine projections.

本数据集包含一系列连续矢状位小鼠脑切片的荧光显微镜图像，这些图像展示了皮质特异性Nr2f1（亦称COUP-TFI）条件性敲除小鼠体内黄色荧光蛋白（yellow fluorescent protein）的表达情况。该转基因小鼠模型通过将Nr2f1-floxed小鼠与两种品系小鼠杂交繁育获得：其一为Emx1-Cre重组酶小鼠，用于仅在皮质祖细胞及其子代细胞中失活Nr2f1；其二为Nex-Cre重组酶小鼠，用于终止有丝分裂后神经元中的Nr2f1表达。后续将上述小鼠与报告基因小鼠品系Thy1-eYFP-H杂交，以特异性标记大脑皮层第五层投射神经元。将同窝出生、未携带Cre重组酶基因（Cre阴性）的Nr2f1-floxed小鼠设为对照组。使用10倍物镜采集的显微镜图像结果显示：1）Nr2f1早期缺失会导致皮质脑桥神经支配增多且异常，同时以皮质脊髓投射为代价；2）有丝分裂后Nr2f1的晚期失活会改变脑桥的地形定位映射模式。本数据集已被用于验证：新皮质原基的正常区域映射是正确构建具有地形组织特性的皮质脑桥投射的先决条件。