Role of radial glia in transformation of the primitive lumen to the central canal in the developing rat spinal cord.

In the last quarter of the embryonic development of rat and shortly after a termination of neurogenesis, the transformation of the spinal cord primitive lumen (pL) to the central canal (CC) occurs. In this work, we show that this phenomenon is not an insignificant event but it is directly associated with the processes of gliogenesis. Using a light microscopy and immunohistochemistry, we monitored the development of the rat embryonic spinal cord from the end of the neurogenesis on the embryonic day 17 until the maturation of the spinal cord during the first postnatal weeks. Our observations demonstrate the importance of the transformation of the pL to the CC and its connection with gliogenesis, and the mechanism of this transformation is proposed. It is found that a segregation of the glutamate transporter (GLAST) immunopositive cells from the alar plates and transformation of the radial glial cells to the fibrous and protoplasmic astrocytes play presumably a key role in the diminution of the ventricular zone. Results indicate that the very transformation and migration of the radial glial cells during gliogenesis could result in a transformation of the pL to the CC.