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Nature Neuroscience 11, 379–380 (1 April 2008) | doi:10.1038/nn0408-379

Glia get excited

Thomas S Otis & Michael V Sofroniew

Nineteenth century anatomists divided neural tissue into two cell classes, neurons and glia, with neurons being regarded as complex principal cells that were responsible for information processing and glia being considered as simple supporting elements. The belief in this absolute functional division persisted through most of the twentieth century, and although the physiological properties of neurons were being characterized in great detail, glial cells were defined mainly by what they did not do—generate action potentials.