Oligodendrocytes myelinate axons in the vertebrate central nervous system (CNS). They develop from precursor cells (OPCs), some of which persist in the adult CNS. Adult OPCs differ in many of their properties from OPCs in the developing CNS. In this study we have purified OPCs from postnatal rat optic nerve and cultured them in serum-free medium containing platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF),...

Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) are a major source of remyelinating oligodendrocytes in demyelinating diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS). While OPCs are innervated by unmyelinated axons in the normal brain, the fate of such synaptic contacts after demyelination is still unclear. By combining electrophysiology and immunostainings in different transgenic mice expressing fluorescent r...

This report evaluates the protective effect of caffeoylquinic acid (CA) injury to oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) by promoting the formation of oligodendrocytes. Neonatal rat brain was used to isolate primary OPCs and non-lethal CoCl2 was used to induce hypoxic stress to inhibit the differentiation of OPCs. Differentiation of OPCs was estimated by survival assay and the expressions of my...

During vertebrate development, many types of precursor cell divide a limited number of times before they stop and terminally differentiate. It is unclear what limits cell proliferation and causes the cells to stop dividing when they do. The stopping mechanisms are important as they influence both the number of differentiated cells generated and the timing of differentiation. We have been studyi...

1. Multiple sclerosis is characterized by areas of demyelination spread throughout the central nervous system, in which the myelin sheaths surrounding axons are destroyed. While therapies aimed at suppressing the autoimmune response, such as beta-interferon, may prevent further damage, they cannot repair or replace the lost myelin. To this end, an additional therapy has been proposed, which inv...

The intracellular molecular mechanism that controls the timing of oligodendrocyte differentiation remains unknown. Temple and Raff (1986) previously showed that an oligodendrocyte precursor cell (OPC) can divide a maximum of approximately eight times before its daughter cells simultaneously cease proliferating and differentiate into oligodendrocytes. They postulated that over time the level of ...

NG2 cells, also referred to as oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) or polydendrocytes, represent a major resident glial cell population that is distinct from mature astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, microglia, and neural stem cells and exist throughout the gray and white matter of the developing and mature central nervous system (CNS). While their most established fate is the oligodendrocyte, th...

Oligodendrocytes are the myelinating glia of the central nervous system and ensure rapid saltatory conduction. Shortage or loss of these cells leads to severe malfunctions as observed in human leukodystrophies and multiple sclerosis, and their replenishment by reprogramming or cell conversion strategies is an important research aim. Using a transgenic approach we increased levels of the transcr...

White matter dysfunction is an important part of many CNS disorders including multiple sclerosis (MS) and vascular dementia. Within injured areas, myelin loss and oligodendrocyte death may trigger endogenous attempts at regeneration. However, during disease progression, remyelination failure may eventually occur due to impaired survival/proliferation, migration/recruitment, and differentiation ...

A serum-free medium has been devised which permits proliferation of the mouse primitive nervous cell line F7. When cholesterol, eye-derived growth factor and brain extract are added in this medium for 48 h, 80-90% of oligodendrocyte-like cells are generated. These cells have diminished substrate adhesion. They acquire the capacity to synthesize carbonic anhydrase II and myelin basic protein, tw...