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Table 1 Ontogenetic astrocyte progenitor pools
| Radial glia | Postnatal glial progenitor cells | Glial restricted precursors | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Origin | Neuroepithelial cells [1] | • Radial glia [11, 12] | Neuroepithelial cells skipping the radial glia stage [13, 14] | |
| • Dlx2 (distal-less homeobox 2) [3] | ||||
| • Local glial progenitors [1] | ||||
| Location | Ventricular zone [1] | • Subventricular zone | • Embryonic spinal cord [8] | • Optic nerve [8] |
| • Dorso-lateral subventricular zone | ||||
| • Marginal zone [1, 11, 12] | ||||
| Characteristics | Multipotential cells [11, 12] | • Multipotential cells | Tripotential cells [8] | • Bipotential cells O-2A, O-2A/OPC [8, 15] |
| • Bipotential cells [3] | ||||
| Roles | • Progenitors for neurons and glial cells | • Intermediate progenitors for astrocytes and oligodendrocytes [3] | • Promote neuroprotection | • Tumor genesis (oligoastrocytomas, multiform glioblastomas) [15] |
| • Guidance of neuronal migration [11, 12] | • Reduction of glial scar | |||
| • Formation and axonal growth [8] | ||||
| Type of resulting astrocytes | • Star shaped specialised cortical astrocytes | • Cortical astrocytes | • Self-renewal | • Astrocytes type 2 and oligodendrocytes (in vitro) |
| • White matter astrocytes | • Astrocytes types 1, 2 and | |||
| • Bergmann glia in the cerebellum [3, 16] | • Oligodendrocytes [3] | • Oligodendrocytes [8] | • Oligodendrocytes (in vivo) [8, 15] | |
