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Maestros of
Learning and Memory
Glia prove to be more than the brain's maintenance crew
By Ashley Yeager
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ting tabletops fal hols and masteringothe tasks mech
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Shaping the brain Tee tese a he erent kine tan ents
neurons The third glial elas, olgodendrocytes,sup-
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‘Nearoscentts began to notion the erty 1990 that ia
Benne han Jost the support ctw tor neurons. 8M
‘Strescurchers including Stephon Sith now at Stanford.
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Tealeignal a neurone de Sith nd bi collenguesdibled
idutamate schemes messenger commonly sed by 26
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Tous yarsater Men eden now the University
ot obese Metical Center New York showed thstto-
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tab wae the splat communicate with neurons.
Tribe tn decades since en, neuroscientists have ben
ying astecytes and thelr sigaaling in varius animals
Humenatecyesae 26 tmeslonger than mouseasroytes
adn ctu on waves throug th brn at pees ve
timesfter than rede atrocytes do Humans aso ave sub
{onotestrpeytestha ont ppear test nsmouse and rt
‘ng Nedergand and collentues reported in 2009 the
“Four af Neurosloee. interlaminar atocyes, fr ex
jie exten long bers trough the cores the outer pat of
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searing memory anders.
an Sconce NEWS| ast 2 2015
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Human lia progenitor callplaced in mou brains mat
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Counterparts the tam reported in Cell Stem Cel i 2013
(Gv-4/678,2.19,
Neswocleste Robin Frankl an Timothy Buss ofthe
‘niu of Canbridge aged in the sare ise thatthe
"eau offered sorpeling evidence that humans sypeior
Teaming and ero sre ann part eto in
this very ennai sys Mar Preema, a eo-
olga the University of Masmchasets Motil Shoolin
irestr ecouttons though, hat te biology ofow these
pil els wort snot completely clear. There may be other
aplanatins fo the sults
ronan, who statis stots in ult es searching
forthe ynes that iy strocyte lyon tone neon
‘Seta sigalalongorsiow ther down. I thos gene are
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Sve cross epi uesting tha the genes play 80n-
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