Budding Diversity

Published23 Jan 2015
Reviewed23 Jan 2015
Author Alexis Wnuk
Source BrainFacts/SfN

The above image provides a snapshot of neural precursor cells (pink and yellow) in a mouse embryo that will mature into different types of spinal cord neurons (blue), depending on the signals they receive.

Carcagano, et al. The Journal of Neuroscience, 2014.

Building a functional nervous system requires many types of neurons, each with their own role to play. The above image provides a snapshot of neural precursor cells (pink and yellow) in a mouse embryo that will mature into different types of spinal cord neurons (blue), depending on the signals they receive. By studying the molecular instructions that guide these and other neurons to become one type of cell or another, scientists hope to better understand how the nervous system develops.

About the Author

Alexis Wnuk

Alexis is the science writer and editor for BrainFacts.org. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2012 with degrees in neuroscience and English.