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
Development of the nervous system lapse displays sequences of radial migration (also known as glial guidance) and somal translocation. Neuronal precursor cells proliferate in the ventricular zone of the developing neocortex, where the principal neural stem cell is the radial glial cell. The first postmitotic cells must leave the stem cell niche and migrate outward to form the preplate, which is destined to become Cajal-Retzius cells and subplate neurons. These cells do so by somal translocation. Neurons migrating with this mode of locomotion are bipolar and attach the leading edge of the process to the pia. The soma is then transported to the pial surface