Glial-cell transplantation and plasticity in the O-2A lineage — implications for CNS repair

The close association that exists between development and regeneration stems from the many shared functions and the similar mechanisms by which these functions are achieved. For this reason, advances made in developmental neurobiology have provided important insights for neurobiologists interested in repair of the damaged CNS. Through the technique of transplantation, it has been possible to demonstrate that the differentiation of the ‘O-2A’ glial progenitor cell in vitro into oligodendrocytes and astrocytes described initially by developmental biologists can also occur within pathological states of the adult CNS.