The Characteristics of Glia as Neural Stem Cells/Progenitors

Abstract: In recent years， there are many amazing findings about glia. The most attractive one is that some 'glia' can behave as multipotent neural stem cells or neural progenitors， which can generate neurons， astrocytes and/or oligodendrocytes both in vitro and in vivo. Not only radial glia that exist throughout the whole lifespan of the non-mammal vertebrates， but also the astrocytes in the brain regions of adult mammals such as subventricular zones and subgranular zones can play these roles. The ability to form the multipotent neurospheres is currently the best in vitro assay for some glia which act as neural stem cells. In vivo， the fates of glia as precursor cells are affected by the surrounding niche constructed by the cell-cell interactions， cytokines， the vasculature， the extracellular matrix and even the basal lamina. These characteristics of glia will have a significant impact on the neural repair.

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2005.06.0010