Radial glial cell the onset of gliogenesis, it is unclear whether they are involved in spinal cord neurogenesis or migration. Radial glia have also been implicated in forming boundaries between different axonal tracts and white matter areas of the brain. As radial glia serve as the primary neural and glial progenitors in the brain, as well as being crucial for proper neuronal migration, defects in radial glial function can have profound effects in the development of the nervous system. Mutations in either Lis1 or Nde1, essential proteins for radial glial differentiation and stabilization, cause the associated neurodevelopmental diseases Lissencephaly and micro-lissencephaly (which literally
Radial glial cell to replace lost or damaged tissue in a process known as gliosis. Radial glial cells originate from the transformation of neuroepithelial cells that form the neural plate during the early phases of pre-natal neurogenesis. This process is mediated through the down-regulation of epithelium-related protein expression (such as tight junctions) and an up-regulation of glial-specific features such as glycogen granules, the astrocyte glutamate transporter (GLAST), the intermediate filament vimentin, and, in some instances, including humans, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). After this transition, radial glia retain many of the original characteristics of neuroepithelial cells including: their apical-basal polarity, their position along