progenitors (Bu et al. 2004; Kang et al. 2010; Nishiyama et al. 2009; Tripathi et al. 2010), human glial progenitors are notably bipotential for both oligodendrocytes and astrocytes in the adult brain (Nunes et al. 2003; Sim et al. 2011; Sim et al. 2009). Such species-specific differences in the in vivo differentiation and fate potential of GPCs are not self-evident, and their identification – and by inference our broadened understanding and ability to model astrocytic turnover in the adult human brain - is a product of our now being able to study human glia in vivo, in real-time.
