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Ancestral roles of glia suggested by the nervous system of Caenorhabditis elegans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2007

Maxwell G. Heiman
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Developmental Genetics, Rockefeller University, New York, USA
Shai Shaham*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Developmental Genetics, Rockefeller University, New York, USA
*
*Correspondence should be addressed to Shai Shaham, Laboratory of Developmental Genetics, Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA phone: 212-327-7126 fax: 212-327-7129 email: shaham@rockefeller.edu

Abstract

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has a simple nervous system with glia restricted primarily to sensory organs. Some of the activities that would be provided by glia in the mammalian nervous system are either absent or provided by non-glial cell types in C. elegans, with only a select set of mammalian glial activities being similarly provided by specialized glial cells in this animal. These observations suggest that ancestral roles of glia may be to modulate neuronal morphology and neuronal sensitivity in sensory organs.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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