Neuroepithelial cells are the "stem cells" of the nervous system, deriving from actual stem cells in several different stages of neural development. These neural stem cells then differentiate further into multiple types of cells, like neurons, astrocytes and other glial cells. They appear during embryonic development of the neural tube as well as in adult neurogenesis in specific areas of the central nervous system. They are also associated with several neurodegenerative diseases. These cells have often been called neuroblasts in an effort to delineate them as precursors to neurons and glial cells.
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“In America all too few blows are struck into flesh. We kill the spirit here, we are experts at that. We use psychic bullets and kill each other cell by cell.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)