Radial glial cells, or radial glial progenitor cells (RGPs), are bipolar-shaped progenitor cells that are responsible for producing all of the neurons in the cerebral cortex. RGPs also produce certain lineages of glia, including astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Their cell bodies (somata) reside in the embryonic ventricular zone, which lies next to the developing ventricular system.
During development, newborn neurons use radial glia as scaffolds, traveling along the radial glial fibers in order to reach their final destinations. Despite the various possible fates of the radial glial population, it has been demonstrated through clonal analysis that most radial glia have restricted, unipotent or multipotent, fates. Radial glia can be found during the neurogenic phase in all vertebrates (studied to date).
The term "radial glia" refers to the morphological characteristics of these cells that were first observed: namely, their radial processes and their similarity to astrocytes, another member of the glial cell family.
Müller glia are radial glial cells that are present in the developing, as well as the adult, retina. As in the cortex, Müller glia have long processes that span the entire width of the retina, from the basal cell layer to the apical layer. However, unlike cortical radial glia, Müller glia do not appear in the retina until after the first rounds of neurogenesis have occurred. Studies suggest that Müller glia can dedifferentiate into readily dividing neural progenitors in response to injury.
The characteristics that truly set Müller glia apart from radial glia in other areas of the brain, is their possession of optical properties. The majority of the retina is actually largely light scattering, suggesting that Müller glia serve as the main fiber responsible for the relay of light to the photoreceptors in the rear of the retina. Properties that help Müller glia achieve this function include a limited number mitochondria (which are very light scattering), as well as a specialized arrangement of internal protein filaments.
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Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a protein that is encoded by the GFAP gene in humans. It is a type III intermediate filament (IF) protein that is expressed by numerous cell types of the central nervous system (CNS), including astrocytes and ependymal cells during development. GFAP has also been found to be expressed in glomeruli and peritubular fibroblasts taken from rat kidneys, Leydig cells of the testis in both hamsters and humans, human keratinocytes, human osteocytes and chondrocytes and stellate cells of the pancreas and liver in rats.
Golgi's method is a silver staining technique that is used to visualize nervous tissue under light microscopy. The method was discovered by Camillo Golgi, an Italian physician and scientist, who published the first picture made with the technique in 1873. It was initially named the black reaction (la reazione nera) by Golgi, but it became better known as the Golgi stain or later, Golgi method. Golgi staining was used by Spanish neuroanatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852–1934) to discover a number of novel facts about the organization of the nervous system, inspiring the birth of the neuron doctrine.
Radial glial cells, or radial glial progenitor cells (RGPs), are bipolar-shaped progenitor cells that are responsible for producing all of the neurons in the cerebral cortex. RGPs also produce certain lineages of glia, including astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Their cell bodies (somata) reside in the embryonic ventricular zone, which lies next to the developing ventricular system. During development, newborn neurons use radial glia as scaffolds, traveling along the radial glial fibers in order to reach their final destinations.
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This course will provide the fundamental knowledge in neuroscience required to
understand how the brain is organised and how function at multiple scales is
integrated to give rise to cognition and beh
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