Development of glial cells in the cerebral wall of ferrets: Direct tracing of their transformation from radial glia into astrocytes

Coronal sections of the cerebral wall from developing ferrets (newborn to adult) were double‐stained with antibodies to vimentin and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). At birth, the dominant glial population was radial glia and these cells labeled only for vimentin. A small population of immature astrocytes in the cortical plate was double labeled for GFAP and vimentin. In successive days, the number of vimentin‐positive radial glia gradually decreased and they disappeared entirely at about 21 days. During this same period, the double‐stained astrocytes increased in number and were distributed throughout the cortical plate and intermediate zone. After 6 weeks of age the astrocytes were mostly confined to the developing white matter. Around this time they gradually lost their vimentin staining, and in the adult no vimentin‐positive elements were seen except at the ependymal surface.

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