Oligodendrocytes, the myelin-forming cells of the central nervous system, were cultured from newborn rat brain and optic nerve to allow us to analyze whether two transmembranous myelin proteins, myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) and proteolipid protein (PLP), were expressed together with myelin basic protein (MBP) in defined medium with low serum and in the absence of neurons. Using double l...

Myelin is a multilamellar membrane which, wrapping the nerve axons, increases the efficiency of nervous signal transmission. Indeed, the molecular components of the myelin sheath interact tightly with each other and molecules on the axonal surface to drive myelination, to keep both myelin and the axon intact, and to transduce signals from myelin to the axon and vice versa. Myelin is strongly af...

Oligodendrocytes synthesize the CNS myelin sheath by enwrapping axonal segments with elongations of their plasma membrane. Spatial and temporal control of membrane traffic is a prerequisite for proper myelin formation. The major myelin proteolipid protein (PLP) accumulates in late endosomal storage compartments and multivesicular bodies (MVBs). Fusion of MVBs with the plasma membrane results in...

Incubation of rat brain myelin with [3H]palmitic acid in the presence of ATP, CoA and MgCl2 or [14C]-palmitoyl-CoA in a cell-free system resulted in the selective labelling of 'PLP' [proteolipid protein; Folch & Lees (1951) J. Biol. Chem. 191, 807-817] and 'DM-20' [Agrawal, Burton, Fishman, Mitchell & Prensky (1972) J. Neurochem. 19, 2083-2089] which, after polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis in...

Introduction: Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is a sensorimotor disorder with a prevalence of 5-10% in western countries [1]. The disorder is characterized by uncomfortable leg sensations with an irresistible urge to move the legs, causing chronic sleep disruption at night. Evidence from a number of analytical approaches has suggested that insufficient brain iron may underlie the pathophysiology o...

T-cell autoimmunity to myelin basic protein was recently shown to be neuroprotective in injured rat optic nerves. In the present study, using the mouse optic nerve, we examined whether active immunization rather than passive transfer of T-cells can be beneficial in protecting retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) from post-traumatic death. Before severe crush injury of the optic nerve, SJL/J and C3H.SW...

Introduction: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a non-invasive exam that can characterize the microstructural properties of the brain white matter through the molecular diffusion processes. The application of DTI to the central nervous system (CNS) can accurately discriminates among different CNS disease pathologies by evaluating the microstructural architecture of the axonal fibers and myelin ...

The fact that central nerve tissue is encephalitogenic has been known since the observation of a post-injection reaction of some rabies victims to the Pasteur vaccine that contained nerve tissue (Brostoff, 1977). Subsequently the encephalitogenic agent in central nerve tissue was traced to a component of the myelin sheath, and a protein was finally isolated that in the presence of complete Freu...