Researchers have discovered an unexpected source for the brain’s development, an advance that offers new insights into the building of the nervous system. They found that glia, a collection of non-neuronal cells that had long been regarded as passive support cells, in fact are vital to nerve-cell development in the brain. “The results lead us to revise the often neuro-centric view of brain development to now appreciate the contributions for non-neuronal cells such as glia,” said a postdoctoral fellow at New York University in the US.
“Indeed, our study found that fundamental questions in brain development with regard to the timing, identity, and coordination of nerve cell birth can only be understood when the glial contribution is accounted for,” said lead author of the study published in the journal Science . The brain is made up of two broad cell types, nerve cells or neurons and…
