الفهرس 
Introduction and aim of the workOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Objective: to study the gliogenesis and vascularization in the albino rat spinal cord. Material and methods: 66 albino rats at embryonic days: 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 and at day of birth and postnatal days: 14 and 21 were used. Histological and histochemical sections from the animals were studied. Counts of the total neuroglial population were made in the white matter of each half of the spinal cord and were subjected to statistics analysis tests. Results: cells were classified as glioblasts, oligodendrocyte, astrocyte and microglial series according to their morphological criteria. Glioblasts with their three types, early, small and large were found in all the prenatal ages examined. They were completely differentiated into other members of glial cells by birth. During the first 2 weeks after birth the number of glial cells doubled in number and at the 3RD week it tripled, the most rapid and marked increase occurred at the 3RD week were it increased 5 folds since birth. A rich network of vessels appeared in the meningeal layers around the cord at e10 it was the source of formation of the anterior and the posterior spinal arteries and the radicular arteries which get their mature form at birth. Between e14 and e18, the vessel volume density increased rapidly in both ventral and dorsal horns and then declined between e19p0 in the dorsal and ventral gray columns but not in the white columns. Postnatally, a rich network of vessels was present throughout the gray matter and white matter. Summary and conclusion: it is concluded that glioblasts appear in the rat spinal cord at early prenatal life and continue till time of birth. They differentiate into astroblasts and oligodendroblasts, which appear at later stages before myelination starts. Blood vessels around the spinal cord are at maximum at e10 and gradually decrease in volume till time of birth. Vascularization of the rat spinal cord reaches its maximum between ages e14 and e18, then decline after that till the start of myelination at p14.