Comparative expression of embryonic medial- and lateral/caudal-ganglionic eminence cells migrating in the mouse cerebral cortex

Cortical interneurons originate in the medial and caudal ganglionic eminence and migrate into the cortex during embryogenesis. We purified cells migrating within the cortex at different embryonic stages and compared their transcriptome to identify transcriptional programmes underlying distinct cortical interneuron fates. We used mice expressing YFP or VENUS in migrating MGE- and CGE-derived cells to purify the respective populations by FACS before extracting RNA and hybridiing on Affymetrix microarrays. We purified cells from two different stages of development: E14.5 and E18.5 for MGE cells and E16.5 and E18.5 for CGE cells.