Title

Glial cell biology in Drosophila and vertebrates

Student Author(s)

Johnna Doherty

Academic Program

Neuroscience

UMMS Affiliation

Department of Neurobiology; Freeman Lab; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Neuroscience Program

Publication Date

2006-02-27

Document Type

Article

Disciplines

Neuroscience and Neurobiology

Abstract

Glia are the most abundant cell type in the mammalian nervous system and they have vital roles in neural development, function and health. However our understanding of the biology of glia is in its infancy. How do glia develop and interact with neurons? How diverse are glial populations? What are the primary functions of glia in the mature nervous system? These questions can be addressed incisively in the Drosophila nervous system--this contains relatively few glia, which are well-defined histologically and amenable to powerful molecular-genetic analyses. Here, we highlight several developmental, morphological and functional similarities between Drosophila and vertebrate glia. The striking parallels that emerge from this comparison argue that invertebrate model organisms such as Drosophila have excellent potential to add to our understanding of fundamental aspects of glial biology.

DOI of Published Version

10.1016/j.tins.2005.12.002

Source

Trends Neurosci. 2006 Feb;29(2):82-90. Epub 2006 Jan 10. Link to article on publisher's site

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Trends in neurosciences

Related Resources

Link to article in PubMed

PubMed ID

16377000

Link to Full Text

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