Radial glial cell and OPCs can be generated from radial glial cells "in vitro", more evidence is yet needed to conclude whether this process also occurs in the developing brain. Recently, radial glia that exclusively generate upper-layer cortical neurons have also been discovered. Since upper cortical layers have expanded greatly in recent evolution, and are associated with higher-level information processing and thinking, radial glia have been implicated as important mediators of brain evolution. The best characterized and first widely accepted function of radial glia is their role as scaffolds for neuronal migration in the cerebral and cerebellar cortexes. This role can be easily
Human Endogenous Retrovirus-W influence the expression of HERV-W. Through qPCR methods and infection of cells with influenza and human herpes simplex 1 it was found that HERV-W has a heighted expression in a cell-specific manner when infected but no mechanism was revealed. Also, when these cells are placed in stressful environments such as serum deprivation similar and increased expression of HERV-W is also recorded. This suggests that HERV-W is modulated by environmental effects. Another study also infected cells with influenza to show that this virus can transactivate HERV-W elements. Influenza produces Glial Cells missing 1 (GCM1) that can act as an enhancer to