abnormal roof plate morphology MP:0000923 MPheno.ontology any structural anomaly of the single row of specialized glial cells that occupies the dorsal midline of the developing neural tube along the entire anterior-posterior axis; the roof plate serves as a critical embryonic signaling center for the organization of dorsal neuronal cell types, and acts as a barrier preventing axons and cells migrating across the dorsal midline roof plate abnormalities roof plate dysplasia abnormal neural tube morphology/development