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How To Build A Spinal Cord: Exploring Radial Glial Proliferation And Their Contribution To Embryonic Neurogenesis, Kimberly A. Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations

During embryonic neural development, the concerted actions of neural stem cells (NSCs) populate and pattern the tissues that will give rise to the brain and spinal cord. This heterogeneous NSC population initially consists of neuroepithelial cells, which will generate the first neurons present in the central nervous system (CNS) prior to transitioning into radial glial cells. Classically, radial glial cells are known to play a wide range of roles during CNS development, from maintaining neuronal homeostasis, as a scaffold for neuronal migration, and as a permissive growth substrate for directed axon pathfinding. Recently, radial glial cells have been proposed to …