Tangential Intrahypothalamic Migration of the Mouse Ventral Premamillary Nucleus and Fgf8 Signaling

The tuberal hypothalamic ventral premamillary nucleus (VPM) described in mammals links olfactory and metabolic cues with mating behavior and is involved in the onset of puberty. We offer here descriptive and experimental evidence on a migratory phase in the development of this structure in mice at E12.5–E13.5. Its cells originate at the retromamillary area (RM) and then migrate tangentially rostralward, eschewing the mamillary body, and crossing the molecularly distinct perimamillary band, until they reach a definitive relatively superficial ventral tuberal location. Corroborating recent transcriptomic studies reporting a variety of adult glutamatergic cell types in the VPM, and different p…