PĘkowska Aleksandra, Verkhratsky Alexei, Falcone Carmen
Dioscuri Centre for Chromatin Biology and Epigenomics, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom; Department of Neurosciences, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU and CIBERNED, Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain; IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain.
Handb Clin Neurol. 2025;209:7-26. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-443-19104-6.00004-8.
Neuroglia are a highly diversified class of neural cells of ectodermal (astroglia; oligodendroglia, glia of the peripheral nervous system) and mesodermal (microglia) origin. Glial cells emerged at the earliest stages of the evolution of the nervous system, seemingly evolving several times in phylogeny. Initially, glial cells were associated with sensory organs, an arrangement conserved throughout the species from worms to humans. Enhanced complexity of the nervous system increased the need for homeostatic support, which, in turn, led to an increase in complexity, functional heterogeneity, and versatility of neuroglia. In the brain of primates, and especially in the brain of humans, astrocytes become exceedingly complex. Likewise, new types of astroglial cells involved in interlayer communication/integration have evolved in the primates evolutionary closer to humans. Increases in animal size and the density of interneuronal connections stimulated the development of the myelin sheath, which was critical for the evolution of the highly complex brains of humans. The innate brain tissue macrophages, the microglia, emerged in invertebrates such as leeches. Microglia conserved their transcriptomic, morphologic, and functional signatures throughout the animal kingdom.
神经胶质细胞是一类高度多样化的神经细胞，起源于外胚层（星形胶质细胞、少突胶质细胞、周围神经系统的胶质细胞）和中胚层（小胶质细胞）。胶质细胞在神经系统进化的最早阶段出现，似乎在系统发育中多次进化。最初，胶质细胞与感觉器官相关联，这种排列在从蠕虫到人类的整个物种中都得以保留。神经系统复杂性的增加，对稳态支持的需求也随之增加，这反过来又导致神经胶质细胞在复杂性、功能异质性和多功能性方面有所增加。在灵长类动物的大脑中，尤其是在人类的大脑中，星形胶质细胞变得极其复杂。同样，在进化上更接近人类的灵长类动物中，出现了参与层间通讯/整合的新型星形胶质细胞。动物体型的增大和神经元间连接密度的增加，刺激了髓鞘的发育，这对人类高度复杂大脑的进化至关重要。先天性脑组织巨噬细胞，即小胶质细胞，出现在水蛭等无脊椎动物中。小胶质细胞在整个动物界都保留了它们的转录组学、形态学和功能特征。
