Abstract
Glia are the most numerous cells in the brain, and their many diverse functions highlight their essential role in the nervous system. Recent studies have revealed an unexpected new role for glia in a wide variety of species, that of stem cells/progenitors in the adult and embryonic brain. Differentiation along the glial lineage may be a default state of development reflected in the progression of stem cells along the neuroepithelial→radial glia→astrocyte lineage.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to K. Doetsch, J. Rihel, S. Santoro, C. Scharff and D. Thaler; C. Dulac for support at Harvard, and B. Seri and A. Alvarez-Buylla for the image in Fig. 3b. My apologies to all whose work was not cited due to space limitations. F.D. was supported by the Harvard University Society of Fellows, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (Burroughs Wellcome Fellow) and a W.F. Milton Fund Award.
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Doetsch, F. The glial identity of neural stem cells. Nat Neurosci 6, 1127–1134 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1144
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1144