glia

noun

ˈglē-ə  ˈglī-ə 

plural glia

: supporting tissue intermingled with the essential elements of nervous tissue especially in the brain, spinal cord, and ganglia

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

The team wanted to switch the glia into neurons that would produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter also involved in movement (among other things). —Lacy Schley, Discover Magazine, 12 Oct. 2018

Getting quick-to-multiply glia to convert and start producing dopamine could serve as a therapy to help treat Parkinson’s and other disorders involving the neurotransmitter. —Lacy Schley, Discover Magazine, 12 Oct. 2018

So the team came up with a collection of proteins that, ideally, would have reverted those glia to a stem-cell state, then spurred them into developing into dopamine-producing cells. —Lacy Schley, Discover Magazine, 12 Oct. 2018

But the more neuroscientists examine glia, the more versatile these cells turn out to be. —Carl Zimmer, Discover Magazine, 25 Mar. 2019

And humans have many more of a certain kind of glia, called astrocytes, than do non-primate mammals. —Lisa Raffensperger, Discover Magazine, 7 Mar. 2013

Neurovirology may take a place alongside sessions on long-term memory, synapses and glia at some future SFN meeting. —Gary Stix, Scientific American, 10 Nov. 2021

These differences were observed in neurons and other brain cells—glia and immune cells called microglia. —Stephani Sutherland, Scientific American, 21 Jan. 2021

But how can myelinating glia detect neural impulses flowing through axons? —R. Douglas Fields, Scientific American, 12 Mar. 2020

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Word History

Etymology

New Latin, from Middle Greek, glue — more at clay

First Known Use

1891, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

glia

noun

ˈglē-ə  ˈglī-ə 

plural glia

: supporting tissue that is intermingled with the essential elements of nervous tissue especially in the brain, spinal cord, and ganglia, is either of ectodermal or mesodermal origin, and is composed of a network of fine fibrils and of flattened stellate cells with numerous radiating fibrillar processes see macroglia, microglia