Table 1.
Variability in numbers and morpho‐functional characteristics of enteric glial cells
| Variables | Description | References | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Species | ↑ Glia index in larger species (1 in mouse and 7 in human MP) | (Gabella & Trigg, 1984; Hoff et al. 2008) | ||
| Sex | ↑ Glia index in males (human ileum SMP) | (Hoff et al. 2008) | ||
| ↑ GFAP expression in females (mouse MP) | Unpublished* | |||
| Age | ↓ Number of Sox10 expressing cells with age (mouse MP) | (Stenkamp‐Strahm et al. 2013) | ||
| ↑ Glial density with age (human ileum/ sigmoid colon MP) | (Hoff et al. 2008) | |||
| ↑ transcription of Cx43 | (McClain et al. 2014) | |||
| Location along the gut length | ↑ Glial density in ileum (guinea pig MP, interganglionc area) | (Hoff et al. 2008) | ||
| Location within the gut wall | ↑ Glia index in MP than in SMP (mouse, guinea pig, rabbit, sheep, | (Gabella & Trigg, 1984; | ||
| human) | Hoff et al. 2008) | |||
| Four types | Within SMP/MP | I – protoplasmic (intraganglionic) | (Gulbransen & Sharkey, 2012; Boesmans et al. 2015) | |
| II – fibrous (interganglionic) | ||||
| Extraganglionic | IIIMUCOSA – mucosal | |||
| IIISMP/MP – at the level of ganglia | ||||
| IV – intramuscular | ||||
Glia index, number of glial cells per neuron. MP, myenteric plexus. SMP, submucosal plexus. *Courtesy of Ninotchska Del Valle Dorta (Gulbransen lab).