Glial Cells: Neuroscience
Name Morphology Function
Astrocytes Largest glial cells • Support and repair: fill spaces not
Most numerous occupied by neurons and blood vessels,
Star-shaped cell bodies with many long proliferate after neuronal damage
processes (gliosis)
Vascular end-feet that contact/surround • K+ spatial buffering: allows neurons to
blood vessels, line ventricles and contact fire again
neurons • Neurotransmitter and metabolite
removal: termination of synaptic signal
• Neurotransmitter receptors: events
inside glial cells
• Communication by gap junctions
• Provide glial guides for neuronal
migration during development
Oligodendrocytes Smaller than astrocytes Myelination of axons in the central nervous
Fewer processes system
Round nuclei One cell may myelinate many axons
Electron dense cytoplasm
Schwann Cells Myelination of axons in the peripheral
nervous system
One Schwann cell myelinates only one
portion of one axon (single axon may be
myelinated by many Schwann cells)
Microglia Small, oval cell bodies, many short Phagocytosis of debris in the CNS
processes (macrophages)
Ependymal cells Cuboidal/columnar epithelial layer Line the surface of the choroids plexus
lining the inside of the neural tube (source of CSF)
May be ciliated or have microvilli Barrier between the brain and the CSF
CSF circulation (ciliary motion)
notes
Two types:
fibrous astrocytes: long, thin processes 
white matter
protoplasmic astrocytes: shorter, thicker
processes  gray matter
Inhibition of axon elongation (regeneration
of CNS axons): myelin-associated
glycoprotein, neurite inhibitor of 35 kDa
and Nogo
Schwann cells surround all peripheral axons
whether they are myelinated or not
Peripheral nerve regeneration requires
laminin (Schwann cell basal cell lamina)
Few in number under normal conditions
Neuron degeneration  increase in number
(hyperplasia) and increase in size
(hypertrophy)
Have desmosomes (substances in CSF can
penetrate the brain)