Glial Tiling in the Nervous System

Mature and efficient nervous systems are built from orchestrated and precise interactions between neural cells. Previous studies have extensively investigated the mechanisms that govern neuronal tiling—the phenomenon where neurons form non-overlapping boundaries with their neighboring neurons, or even amongst neurites from the same neuron. In nearly all organisms from worms to mammals, a similar phenomenon has been described for glial cells in the CNS and PNS, or even between glial cells that form the border between the two. However, we know very little about the cellular and molecular mechanisms that mediate glial tiling, or the functional roles underlying this cellular behavior. A true understanding of the complexity of the healthy or diseased nervous system cannot be achieved without a deeper understanding of the fundamental rules that govern this glial patterning.

In this Research Topic, we will focus on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern glial tiling in healthy and diseased nervous systems across model systems and nervous system regions, with the hopes of providing a comprehensive overview of this important but understudied research area.

We seek Original Research, Review, Mini-Review, Perspective, Clinical Trial, Case Report and Opinion articles that cover, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Model organism glial tiling
• Evolutionary perspectives of glial tiling
• CNS tiling
• PNS tiling
• Glial-glial tiling (homotypic or heterotypic)
• Glial-neuron/axon tiling
• Glial tiling during development
• Understudied glial population tiling
• Changes to glial tiling after injury
• Diseases of perturbed glial tiling (i.e., cancer, epilepsy, others)
• Functional roles of glial tiling
• Physiological roles of overlapping glial territories