Figure 1. SC fate determination during development and after injury.
During development (black arrows), immature SCs sort axons by diameter in a process called radial sorting. SCs associated with large diameter axons (>1 μm, pink) differentiate into myelinating SCs, while small axons (purple) will be ensheathed by RSCs. After injury (gray arrows) both RSCs and myelinating SCs can dedifferentiate back to an immature state and then re-differentiate to aid in nerve regeneration. SCs at all stages secrete a basal lamina, which becomes denser as SCs mature.