Glial scar brain and spinal cord. FGF2 has also been shown to increase astrocyte proliferation "in vitro". Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is a cytosolic protein that is not secreted. CNTF has been shown to promote the survival of neuronal cultures "in vitro", and it can also act as a differentiator and trophic factor on glial cells. Further, CNTF has been previously shown to affect the differentiation of glial precursor cells "in vitro"; however, the influence of CNTF in the "in vivo" setting has only recently been determined. Winter "et al." used CNTF over-expressing transgenic mice as well as wildtype controls that had
Guidepost cells in the neural tube of Drosophilia available for the binding of growing axons. These studies have defined guidepost cells as non-continuous landmarks located on future paths of growing axons by providing high-affinity substrates to bind to for navigation. Guidepost cells are typically immature glial cells and neuron cells, that have yet to grown an axon. They can either be labeled as short range cells or axon dependent cells. To qualify as a guidepost cell, neurons hypothesized to be influenced by a guidance cell are examined during development. To test the guidance cell in question, neural axon growth and migration is