Understanding Myelination part1(Neuroscience)
- Activity-Dependent Myelination(PubMed)
Author : Daisuke Kato 1, Hiroaki Wake 2 3
Abstract : Oligodendrocyte form myelin around the axons to regulate the conduction velocity. Myelinated axons are composed of white matter to act as cables to connect distinct brain regions. Recent human MRI studies showed that the signal from white matter change in the people with special skills such as taxi driver, piano player, and juggling. The change of the white matter suggested that (1) The plasticity of myelination depends on neuronal activity (activity-dependent myelination) and (2) White matter plasticity is essential for brain functions. In this session, we discussed that how the un-electrical components, oligodendrocytes, and its precursor cells receive the signal from electrically active neurons and differentiate, proliferate, and myelinate the axons to modulate the activity of neuronal circuits, ultimately affect on their behaviors. In this review, we highlight the physiological functions of oligodendrocyte and their neuronal activity-dependent functions and thus show new insight for their contribution to brain functions.
2.Adaptive myelination from fish to man (PubMed)
Author : Marion Baraban 1, Sigrid Mensch 1, David A Lyons 2
Abstract : Myelinated axons with nodes of Ranvier are an evolutionary elaboration common to essentially all jawed vertebrates. Myelin made by Schwann cells in our peripheral nervous system and oligodendrocytes in our central nervous system has been long known to facilitate rapid energy efficient nerve impulse propagation. However, it is now also clear, particularly in the central nervous system, that myelin is not a simple static insulator but that it is dynamically regulated throughout development and life. New myelin sheaths can be made by newly differentiating oligodendrocytes, and mature myelin sheaths can be stimulated to grow again in the adult. Furthermore, numerous studies in models from fish to man indicate that neuronal activity can affect distinct stages of oligodendrocyte development and the process of myelination itself. This begs questions as to how these effects of activity are mediated at a cellular and molecular level and whether activity-driven adaptive myelination is a feature common to all myelinated axons, or indeed all oligodendrocytes, or is specific to cells or circuits with particular functions. Here we review the recent literature on this topic, elaborate on the key outstanding questions in the field, and look forward to future studies that incorporate investigations in systems from fish to man that will provide further insight into this fundamental aspect of nervous system plasticity. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Myelin Evolution.
