Confirmation of repeated patterns of neurons indicates stereotypical organization throughout brain’s cerebral cortex

Neurons are arranged in periodic patterns that repeat over large distances in two areas of the cerebral cortex, suggesting that the entire cerebral cortex has a stereotyped organization, reports a team of researchers led by Toshihiko Hosoya of the RIKEN Brain Science Institute. The entire cortex has a stereotypical layered structure with the same cell types arranged in the same way, but how neurons are organized in the other orientation—parallel to the brain’s surface—is poorly understood.