Koji Senzaki, along with associate professor Takeshi Yagi from Okazaki National Research Institute, The Research Institute for Physiological Sciences - Neural Information Laboratory, have clarified the existence of a receptor for the Reelin molecule which involves the spatial arrangement of cortical neurons.
Cortical neurons follow highly regulated spatial patterns of arrangement.
In the cerebral cortex, different types of neurons, in terms of morphology and functionality, align in fixed positions to generate six cortical layers, each of which is parallel to the brain's surface. Neurons are formed on the walls of cerebral ventricles, and later are arranged in their final positions after undergoing specific patterns of cell migration. Prior to the above-mentioned joint research, Dr. Ogawa et al had revealed that this process is associated with approx. 400 kD Reelin molecules secreted from Cajal-Retzius cells, one of the first cortical neurons. Alternately, in pyramidal cells that Reelin acts on, the cellular adapter molecule mDab-1 undergoes specific phosphorylation.