Binding to cells via a high affinity receptor, laminin is thought to mediate the attachment, migration and organization of cells into tissues during embryonic development by interacting with other extracellular matrix components. Involved in the organization of the laminar architecture of cerebral cortex. It is probably required for the integrity of the basement membrane/glia limitans that serves as an anchor point for the endfeet of radial glial cells and as a physical barrier to migrating neurons. Radial glial cells play a central role in cerebral cortical development, where they act both as the proliferative unit of the cerebral cortex and a scaffold for neurons migrating toward the pial surface.
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