[Development and developmental disorders of the human brain. II. Development of the cerebral cortex and major tract systems]

In the development of the cerebral cortex, two phases can be distinguished: (a) the formation of the preplate, a superficial layer essential for a normal lamination of the cerebral cortex; (b) the formation of the cortical plate. The cortical plate divides the preplate into a superficial marginal zone (the future layer I) and the subplate. The transient subplate is important for the formation of thalamocortical projections. Most cortical neurons arise in the ventricular zone of the pallium and migrate along radial glial cells (radial migration) to the cortical plate. The gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic cortical interneurons, however, originate from the ganglionic eminences and reach the cerebral cortex through tangential migration