Brain development cell proliferation

Besides the well-established role of cytokines in the immune system, several recent reports demonstrated that chemokines also play a role in the central nervous system (CNS) (B2, Ml3). In the CNS, chemokines are constitutively expressed by microglial cells, astrocytes, and neurons, and their expression can be increased after induction with inflammatory mediators (M13). Chemokines are involved in brain development and in the maintenance of normal brain homeostasis, and play a role in the migration, differentiation, and proliferation of glial and neuronal... 

Fig. 1 Basic processes of brain development necessary for proper organ function. Neural Progenitor Cells (NPCs, green) proliferate to provide an access amount of cells, which then migrate and differentiate into neurons (purple) and glia [yellow). These form synapses [red) and surplus cells undergo apoptosis (grey). When these processes happen in the right and coordinated way, functional neuronal networks form (olive). With courtesy from William Mundy, US Environmental Protection Agency and John Havel, SRA International, Inc.

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