ABSTRACT
Brain activity requires the regulation of excitatory and inhibitory neurons. GABAergic interneurons are considered to prevent hyperexcitability in brain. Severe GABAergic deficits have been proved to cause pathological hyperexcitability. Most cortical interneurons originate from the ventral telencephalon and then undergo a long tangential migration to the cortex, followed by radial migration into developing cortical plate. Among them, tangential migration is considered to be the main migration manner of interneurons. The process is rather complex but also precise. With the deepening research on the tangential migration of cortical neurons, many molecules have been proved to play important roles in the process of migration. In this review, we mainly describe the migration path and migration manner of interneurons, and its underlying mechanism in two aspects. On the one hand, neurotrophins such as BDNF, NT-4, GDNF, HGF and neurotransmitters such as GABA, Glu, DA can enhance the motility of interneurons. On the other hand, several protein families as well as proteoglycans, such as Ephrin, Sema and Nrg, can bind to membrane-bound or secreted guidance cues of interneurons, providing direction clues for neuronal migration. In this review, we discussed the tangential migration of interneurons in mice, in order to provide novel insights into the regulatory molecular mechanisms of cerebral cortical development and help to develop new targets against defects in neural developments.