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Growth and Support
10 February 2017

Growth and Support

A powerful cell needs a support team – nerve cells (neurons) are accompanied by glial cells, which do many jobs including protecting the neurons and supplying them with nutrients. New studies have shown that certain types of glial cell can do more than that – they can also affect how cells grow. Neurons grow dendrites – long projections which pass signals to other neurons. When neurons were grown with a type of glial cell called astroglia, their dendrites didn’t grow as long. The dendrites right next to the astroglia also tended to grow towards them. The neuron (falsely coloured green) and astroglial cell (blue) in the image even touch, so they could be growing together by physically pulling on each other. This sheds light on how nerves grow, but when large numbers of cells grow together in a nervous system there are many other factors at play too.

Written by Esther Redhouse White

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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