: supporting tissue intermingled with the essential elements of nervous tissue especially in the brain, spinal cord, and ganglia
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebNeurovirology may take a place alongside sessions on long-term memory, synapses and glia at some future SFN meeting. Gary Stix, Scientific American, 10 Nov. 2021 These differences were observed in neurons and other brain cells—glia and immune cells called microglia. Stephani Sutherland, Scientific American, 21 Jan. 2021 But how can myelinating glia detect neural impulses flowing through axons? R. Douglas Fields, Scientific American, 12 Mar. 2020 Many different cellular changes could expand gray matter volume, including the birth of new neurons and of nonneuronal cells called glia. R. Douglas Fields, Scientific American, 12 Mar. 2020 Many autism risk genes appeared in progenitor cells, whereas schizophrenia genes were more active later—in glia and inhibitory neurons, for instance. Simon Makin, Scientific American, 24 Jan. 2020 Far from being mere valets to neurons, glia often take leading roles in protecting the brain’s health and directing its development.Quanta Magazine, 27 Jan. 2020 But when the researchers examined more precise subtypes of cells—a subset cells known as outer radial glia, for example—the comparisons started to break down. Kelly Servick, Science | AAAS, 29 Jan. 2020 From there, the organoids develop automatically, first generating different types of neurons and then forming other brain cells called glia. Simon Makin, Scientific American, 24 Jan. 2020 See More
Word History
Etymology
New Latin, from Middle Greek, glue — more at clay
First Known Use
1891, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
glia
noun
ˈglē-ə ˈglī-ə
plural glia
: supporting tissue that is intermingled with the essential elements of nervous tissue especially in the brain, spinal cord, and ganglia, is either of ectodermal or mesodermal origin, and is composed of a network of fine fibrils and of flattened stellate cells with numerous radiating fibrillar processes see macroglia, microglia