Neural Dictators

In the adult mammalian brain, the glial cells (shown here coloured green in a section of mouse cortex) are generally speaking supporters and modulators of the all-important neurons (magenta) –the electrical cells that store, process and deliver information at lightening speed. But new research suggests that neurons don’t just rely on glia for support, they also dictate the cells’ fates. The brain contains a variety of glial cell types possessing different specialised functions, and it was thought that these identities were established and fixed during embryo and early postnatal development. Scientists have now discovered, however, that a glial cell’s identity remains malleable into adulthood. It turns out that neurons in the adult brain continuously release fate-determining molecular signals, which neighbouring glia require to maintain their identity. Exactly how this previously unappreciated glial plasticity ultimately affects an animal’s behaviour and brain functions has yet to be determined.

Written by Ruth Williams

Ruth Williams

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Ruth is a freelance science journalist based in the US. She's a regular correspondent for The Scientist, and her work has appeared in The Lancet, Nature, Scientific American Mind, BBC Focus and elsewhere. Twitter @rooph

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• Image by Todd Farmer, McGill University Health Centre
• Centre for Research in Neuroscience, The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• Image copyright held by original authors
• Research published in Science, February 2016