“…More recently, we have shown that spine density, excitatory synaptic transmission and plasticity of prefrontal pyramidal neurons as well as cognitive traits are altered during the postnatal maturation of the reelin-haploinsufficient heterozygous reeler mice (HRM) prefrontal cortex (PFC) (Iafrati et al, 2014; Iafrati et al, 2016). We showed that reelin is necessary for the correct structural and functional maturation of deep layer excitatory synapses of the prelimbic area of the PFC (PrPFC) and that reelin happloinsufficiency delineates prefrontal endophenotypes thus identifying reelin as a risk gene for PFC maturational cognitive deficits (Iafrati et al, 2014; Iafrati et al, 2016). Despite these advancements, and apart from studies reporting alterations in GABAergic markers and reduced number of purkinje cells in HRM (Hadj-Sahraoui et al, 1996; Biamonte et al, 2009; Nullmeier et al, 2011) as well as the correlation between firing properties and neurochemical identity of reelin-expressing interneurons (Pohlkamp et al, 2014), the role of reelin in the maturation and plasticity of GABAergic connectivity has not been investigated.…”