Regulation of neuronal-glial fate specification by long non-coding RNAs

Neural stem cell transplantation is becoming a promising and attractive cell-based treatment modality for repairing the damaged central nervous system. One of the limitations of this approach is that the proportion of functional cells differentiated from stem cells still remains at a low level. In recent years, novel long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are being discovered at a growing pace, suggesting that this class of molecules may act as novel regulators in neuronal-glial fate specification. In this review, we first describe the general features of lncRNAs that are more likely to be relevant to reveal their function. By this, we aim to point out the specific roles of a number of lncRNAs whose function has been described during neuronal and glial cell differentiation. There is no doubt that investigation of the lncRNAs will open a new window in studying neuronal-glial fate specification.