Developmental origin of neural stem cells: the glial cell that could

Since their identification, there has been tremendous interest in adult neural stem cells, in part based upon their potential therapeutic uses in understanding and treating neurological disorders. But what's the origin of these cells in the embryo? We outline here the onset of neural specification in the vertebrate embryo and describe the molecular mechanisms regulating patterning of the central nervous system (CNS). We trace the lineage of the multipotential stem cell of the nervous system from embryonic neuroepithelial cell to adult astrocyte-like neural stem cell. As these stem cells emerge throughout development and in the adult, they appear to be predetermined to a specific neuronal or glial fate. Finally, we compare the properties of embryonic stem cell-derived neural stem cells and CNS-derived neural stem cells.