| Radial glia | Postnatal glial progenitor cells | Glial restricted precursors | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Origin | Neuroepithelial cells [1] | 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 |  |  | ||
 |  | |||
Characteristics | • Multipotential cells | Tripotential cells [8] | ||
• 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] |
 | • 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 |  | |
• Oligodendrocytes [3] | • Oligodendrocytes [8] |