title: The heterogeneous nature of NG2-glia.
abstract: In the central nervous system, NG2-glia are the cells responsible for the generation of mature oligodendrocytes during development and adulthood. Some studies could show that NG2-glia can give origin also to astrocytes and neurons, a property that makes them similar to neural stem cells. Beside their important role as progenitors, NG2-glia are believed also to have more functions due to their unique interaction with neurons through synapses. It is however not clear whether these features are common to all NG2-glia or different subpopulations of NG2-glia devoted to different functions exist. Therefore the aim of this review is to highlight the state of the art on NG2-glia heterogeneity from development to adulthood and in different brain areas, and discuss the impact of it on our understanding of the glial neurobiology. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI:NG2-glia(Invited only).
authors.affiliation: Physiological Genomics, Biomedical Center, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich 80336, Germany.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Viganò
authors.affiliation: Physiological Genomics, Biomedical Center, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich 80336, Germany; Institute for Stem Cell Research, Helmholtz Zentrum Munich, Neuherberg 85764, Germany; SYNERGY, Excellence Cluster of Systemic Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich 81377, Germany. Electronic address: leda.dimou@lrz.uni-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dimou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000941:Antigens / Q000378:metabolism*; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D011509:Proteoglycans / Q000378:metabolism*; D000099216:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycan 4
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D011509:Proteoglycans; D000099216:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycan 4
keywords: Developmental stages; Differentiation; Heterogeneity; Proliferation; Regional differences