Glial Cells of the Central Nervous System: A Potential Target in Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome

Figure 1

Differentiation process of glial cells and general function of glial cells in prostatitis-related symptoms (pain, psychosocial symptoms, and lower urinary tract symptoms). (a) Microglia originate in the yolk sac. At first, c-kit⁺ erythromyeloid progenitor (EMP) cells develop, mature, and expand in the yolk sac, and form c-kit⁺ CX3CR1⁺ A1 progenitor subsequently. CX3CR1⁺ A2 myeloid progenitor cells are derived from c-kit⁺ CX3CR1⁺ A1 progenitors and finally differentiate into microglia in the brain. Multiple markers have been found to specially recognize microglia (CD45, CD11b, TMEM119, TREM2, P2RY12, FCRLS, and C1QA) while IBa-1 and CX3CR1 are widely used markers of activated microglia in pathology studies. (b) Astrocytes originate from neuroepithelium cells. Neuroepithelial cells further transform into radial glial cells while radial glial cells can divide asymmetrically to produce different types of intermediate progenitor cells. Both radial glial cells and intermediate progenitor cells can differentiate into astrocytes. GFAP, ALDH1L1, AQP4, and SLC1A3 are common astrocyte markers. (c) Oligodendrocytes also originate from neuroepithelium cells. Radial glial cells derived from neuroepithelium cells can differentiate into oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (specific marker: NG2, PDGFRA, OLIG2, and SOX10). Oligodendrocytes are produced by oligodendrocyte progenitor cells. OLIG2 and SOX10 are the specific markers of mature oligodendrocytes.