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Astrocyte morphology and physiology

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Human Uniqueness Compared to "Great Apes": 
Absolute Difference
MOCA Domain: 
Neuroscience
MOCA Topic Authors: 
Todd M Preuss

The morphology of astrocytes (one of the major types of central nervous system glial cells) was modified in human evolution. Oberheim and colleagues have noted differences in the morphology of human cortical astrocytes compared to chimpanzees.  

 

Related MOCA Topics
Timing

Timing of Appearance of the Difference in the Hominin Lineage.

For this entry assume that

  • the common ancestor of humans and old world monkeys was 25000 thousand (25 million) years ago
  • the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees was 6000 thousand (6 million) years ago
  • the emergence of the genus Homo was 2000 thousand (2 million) years ago
  • the common ancestor of modern humans was 100 thousand years ago

 

Possible Appearance: 
6000 Thousand Years
Definite Appearance: 
100 Thousand Years
References: 
  • Oberheim NA, Takano T, Han X, He W, Lin JH, Wang F, Xu Q, Wyatt JD, Pilcher W, Ojemann JG, Ransom BR, Goldman SA, Nedergaard M (2009) Uniquely hominid features of adult human astrocytes. J Neurosci 29:3276-3287. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19279265
  • Oberheim NA, Wang X, Goldman S, Nedergaard M (2006) Astrocytic complexity distinguishes the human brain. Trends in neurosciences 29:547-553.  www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16938356

 

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