Glial cells nervous system development

Glial cells are cells within the central or peripheral nervous system which are not immediately involved in information processing. Glial cells play an mportant role in the metabolic homeostasis of brain tissue and in nervous system development. 

Cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) play critical roles in all facets of nervous system development and maintenance. Important phenomena in which CAMs are involved include initial formation of the neural tube and the neural crest, migration of all neurons and glial cells, axonal outgrowth and guidance, target selection, synaptic stabilization and plasticity, myelination and nerve regeneration after injury (see Chs 4,24,28-30 and 53). Adhesion molecules interact with each other and with nonadhesive cell-surface and/or cytoplasmic molecules, and, in the two... 

Glial cell development is critical to nervous system development 451... 

Wei, L.C., Shi, M., Chen, L.W., Cao, R, Zhang, P., Chan, Y.S. (2002). Nestin-containing cells express glial fibrillaiy acidic protein in the proliferative regions of central nervous system of postnatal developing and adult mice. Brain Res Dev Brain Res, 139, 9-17. 

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... 

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