Glee for Glia

摘要

Research on glial cells has come of age. until a few years ago, gliobiologists felt they had to justify their existence, often in a department of neuroscience or neurobiology, and they regularly stressed the abundance of glia as compared to that of neurons in the nervous system. Now, however, the outdated notion that glia are simply the glue that holds the nerve cells together but otherwise have no active role in the brain has been laid to rest for good. Years of thorough research and the steady accumulation of solid evidence have confirmed that glia are highly complex cells engaged in a plethora of functions.