Abstract
Tanycytes are located at the base of the brain and retain characteristics from their developmental origins – as radial glial cells ‐ throughout their life span. With transport mechanisms and modulation of tight junction proteins, tanycytes form a bridge connecting the cerebrospinal fluid with the external limiting basement membrane. They also retain the powers of self‐renewal and can differentiate to generate neurons and glia. Like radial glia, they are a heterogeneous family with distinct phenotypes. Although the four subtypes so far distinguished display distinct characteristics, further research is likely to reveal new subtypes. In preparation for this review we re‐visited the work of the pioneers in the field revealing forgotten work waiting to inspire new research with today's cutting‐edge technologies. We have conducted a systematic ultrastructural study of α‐tanycytes that resulted in a wealth of new information, generating numerous questions for future study. We also consider median eminence pituicytes, a closely‐related cell type to tanycytes, and attempt to relate pituicyte fine morphology to molecular and functional mechanism. Our rationale was that future research should be guided by a better understanding of the early pioneering work in the field, which may currently be overlooked when interpreting newer data or designing new investigations.
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