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Review:Glial lineages and myelination in the central nervous system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2001

ALASTAIR COMPSTON ,
JOHN ZAJICEK ,
JON SUSSMAN ,
ANNA WEBB ,
GILLIAN HALL ,
DAVID MUIR ,
CHRISTOPHER SHAW ,
ANDREW WOOD  and
NEIL SCOLDING
ALASTAIR COMPSTON
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge Neurology Unit, Addenbrooke's Hospital, and the Multiple Sclerosis Society Laboratory of the Medical Research Council Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, Cambridge, UK Present address: Wyeth-Ayerst Research, CN 8000, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
JOHN ZAJICEK
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge Neurology Unit, Addenbrooke's Hospital, and the Multiple Sclerosis Society Laboratory of the Medical Research Council Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, Cambridge, UK Present address: Department of Neurology, Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, PL6 8DH, UK.
JON SUSSMAN
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge Neurology Unit, Addenbrooke's Hospital, and the Multiple Sclerosis Society Laboratory of the Medical Research Council Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, Cambridge, UK
ANNA WEBB
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge Neurology Unit, Addenbrooke's Hospital, and the Multiple Sclerosis Society Laboratory of the Medical Research Council Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, Cambridge, UK
GILLIAN HALL
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge Neurology Unit, Addenbrooke's Hospital, and the Multiple Sclerosis Society Laboratory of the Medical Research Council Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, Cambridge, UK
DAVID MUIR
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge Neurology Unit, Addenbrooke's Hospital, and the Multiple Sclerosis Society Laboratory of the Medical Research Council Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, Cambridge, UK Present address: Department of Histopathology, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham, B9 5SS, UK.
CHRISTOPHER SHAW
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge Neurology Unit, Addenbrooke's Hospital, and the Multiple Sclerosis Society Laboratory of the Medical Research Council Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, Cambridge, UK Present address: Department of Neurology, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 3AF, UK.
ANDREW WOOD
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge Neurology Unit, Addenbrooke's Hospital, and the Multiple Sclerosis Society Laboratory of the Medical Research Council Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, Cambridge, UK
NEIL SCOLDING
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge Neurology Unit, Addenbrooke's Hospital, and the Multiple Sclerosis Society Laboratory of the Medical Research Council Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, Cambridge, UK
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Abstract

Oligodendrocytes, derived from stem cell precursors which arise in subventricular zones of the developing central nervous system, have as their specialist role the synthesis and maintenance of myelin. Astrocytes contribute to the cellular architecture of the central nervous system and act as a source of growth factors and cytokines; microglia are bone-marrow derived macrophages which function as primary immunocompetent cells in the central nervous system. Myelination depends on the establishment of stable relationships between each differentiated oligodendrocyte and short segments of several neighbouring axons. There is growing evidence, especially from studies of glial cell implantation, that oligodendrocyte precursors persist in the adult nervous system and provide a limited capacity for the restoration of structure and function in myelinated pathways damaged by injury or disease.

Keywords

Oligodendrocytesastrocytesmicrogliamyelindevelopmentrepair
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Anatomy , Volume 190 , Issue 2 , February 1997 , pp. 161 - 200
Copyright
© Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1997

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