UMass Chan Medical School Faculty Publications

Title

Evolving concepts of gliogenesis: a look way back and ahead to the next 25 years

UMMS Affiliation

Department of Neurobiology; Freeman Lab

Publication Date

2013-10-30

Document Type

Article

Subjects

Animals; *Biological Evolution; Cell Differentiation; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Neuroglia; Neurosciences

Disciplines

Developmental Neuroscience | Neuroscience and Neurobiology

Abstract

Glial cells are present in all organisms with a CNS and, with increasing brain complexity, glial cells have undergone substantive increases in cell number, diversity, and functions. Invertebrates, such as Drosophila, possess glial subtypes with similarity to mammalian astrocytes in their basic morphology and function, representing fertile ground for unraveling fundamental aspects of glial biology. Although glial subtypes in simple organisms may be relatively homogenous, emerging evidence suggests the possibility that mammalian astrocytes might be highly diversified to match the needs of local neuronal subtypes. In this Perspective, we review classic and new roles identified for astrocytes and oligodendrocytes by recent studies. We propose that delineating genetic and developmental programs across species will be essential to understand the core functions of glia that allow enhanced neuronal function and to achieve new insights into glial roles in higher-order brain function and neurological disease.

DOI of Published Version

10.1016/j.neuron.2013.10.034

Source

Neuron. 2013 Oct 30;80(3):613-23. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.10.034. Link to article on publisher's site

Related Resources

Link to Article in PubMed

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Neuron

PubMed ID

24183014

Link to Full Text

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