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Neural development

A maturing view on interneuron development

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 26, page 518 (2025)Cite this article

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In humans and rodents, cortical parvalbumin-expressing (PV+) interneurons show a long period of development, and their mature properties are acquired well into the postnatal period, coinciding with the expression of PV itself. Neural activity is hypothesized to have a role in the protracted maturation of these cells, but the mechanism has been unclear. Now, Moissidis et al. show that neuronal activity drives cortical PV+ interneuron maturation in mice via its effects on peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC1α), a transcriptional cofactor.

PV+ interneurons exhibit an increase in PV expression between postnatal day (P) 10 and P12 in the mouse primary somatosensory cortex (S1). Using a chemogenetic approach, the authors showed that directly activating developing layer (L) 2/3 PV+ interneurons in S1 from P10 to P12 led to an increase in the intensity of PV expression. Conversely, decreasing the level of activity in developing L5 PV+ interneurons during this period led to a decrease in PV levels. Together, these findings indicate that PV expression in developing PV+ interneurons is regulated by neural activity.

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  1. Nature Reviews Neuroscience http://www.nature.com/nrn/

    Darran Yates

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  1. Darran Yates
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Correspondence to Darran Yates.

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Yates, D. A maturing view on interneuron development. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 26, 518 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-025-00955-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-025-00955-w

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