Medha S Rajadhyaksha is a reader in life sciences at Sophia College, Mumbai. She is involved in teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses in life sciences with specialization in neuro-biology.

Daya Maghani is the Deputy Director of the Department of Neuropathology and Applied Biology, Medical Research Center, Bombay Hospital, Mumbai. She specializes in electron microscopy of muscle, nerve and brain tumors.

IIn 1846 Rudolf Virchow recognized for the first time that the vertebrate brain had a large population of cells other than the neurons, collectively called the neuroglia. Much later, various types of glial cells were identified and described (see Part 1) While pathologists studied glia extensively in normal and injured or diseased brains, most textbooks mentioned glia only cursorily. In the last decade, however, new techniques of identification of specific glial cells have given an impetus to the study of their role in the central nervous system (CNS). In this series, we aim to update students about these important other cells of the nervous system. The present article highlights some aspects of the structure and function of astrocytes, the major macroglia in the CNS. Other glial cell types will be discussed in subsequent articles.

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Address for Correspondence

Medha S Rajadhyaksha
Reader Life Sciences Department
Sophia College B Desai Road
Mumbai 400 026, India.

Daya Manghani
Deputy Director
Department of Neuropathology
and Applied Biology
Medical Research Center
Bombay Hospital
Mumbai, India.