%0 Journal Article %A Delphine Delaunay %A Katharina Heydon %A Ana Cumano %A Markus H. Schwab %A Jean-Léon Thomas %A Ueli Suter %A Klaus-Armin Nave %A Bernard Zalc %A Nathalie Spassky %T Early Neuronal and Glial Fate Restriction of Embryonic Neural Stem Cells %D 2008 %R 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5497-07.2008 %J The Journal of Neuroscience %P 2551-2562 %V 28 %N 10 %X The question of how neurons and glial cells are generated during the development of the CNS has over time led to two alternative models: either neuroepithelial cells are capable of giving rise to neurons first and to glial cells at a later stage (switching model), or they are intrinsically committed to generate one or the other (segregating model). Using the developing diencephalon as a model and by selecting a subpopulation of ventricular cells, we analyzed both in vitro, using clonal analysis, and in vivo, using inducible Cre/loxP fate mapping, the fate of neuroepithelial and radial glial cells generated at different time points during embryonic development. We found that, during neurogenic periods [embryonic day 9.5 (E9.5) to 12.5], proteolipid protein (plp)-expressing cells were lineage-restricted neuronal precursors, but later in embryogenesis, during gliogenic periods (E13.5 to early postnatal), plp-expressing cells were lineage-restricted glial precursors. In addition, we show that glial cells forming at E13.5 arise from a new pool of neuroepithelial progenitors distinct from neuronal progenitors cells, which lends support to the segregating model. %U https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/28/10/2551.full.pdf