Generation of reactive astrocytes from NG2 cells is regulated by sonic hedgehog.
NG2 cells, a fourth glial cell type in the adult mammalian central nervous system, produce oligodendrocytes in the healthy nervous tissue, and display wide differentiation potential under pathological conditions, where they could give rise to reactive astrocytes. The factors that control the differentiation of NG2 cells after focal cerebral ischemia (FCI) are largely unknown. Here, we used transge