Wrapping and compaction of myelin sheaths around axons require specific membrane and membrane-associated proteins. Transmembrane proteins like proteolipid protein (PLP), the peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP-22) and P0 as well as myelin basic protein (MBP) are crucial for this process. We have isolated a rat cDNA, initially denominated NS 3, that is mainly expressed in the myelinating cells of ...

The time dependence of the adsorption of myelin basic protein onto dipalmitoyl phosphatidyl glycerol multilayers has been followed directly, using a novel application of a microgravimetric gauge. Our results, supplemented by other data obtained by FTIR, show the ease and versatility of the quartz microbalance for investigating the interaction processes between proteins and phospholipid layers a...

Mature T cells initially respond to Ag by activation and expansion, but high and repeated doses of Ag cause programmed cell death and can suppress T cell-mediated diseases in rodents. We evaluated repeated systemic Ag administration in a marmoset model of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis that closely resembles the human disease multiple sclerosis. We found that treatment with MP4, a chim...

Enhancing the endogenous capacity of myelin repair is a major therapeutic challenge in demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis. We found that progesterone and the synthetic 19-norprogesterone derivative 16-methylene-17α-acetoxy-19-norpregn-4-ene-3,20-dione (Nestorone) promote the remyelination of axons by oligodendrocytes after lysolecithin-induced demyelination in organotypic culture...

To study the effects of naturally occurring growth hormone deficiency type I on CNS myelination, we compared the myelination of brains from little and wild-type littermate mice using molecular, histological, morphometric, and functional analyses. The little mouse produces only 6-8% of normal levels of growth hormone (GH) and approximately 20% of normal circulating levels of insulin-like growth ...

In this study, we investigated the clinical relevance of anti-myelin antibodies in patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO); titers of antibodies against myelin oligodendrocyte glycoproteins, proteolipid proteins and myelin basic proteins were measured in the sera of patients with NMO and compared to healthy controls, as well as to patients with other diseases. The frequency of presence of anti...

Duplications and overexpression of the proteolipid protein (PLP) gene are known to cause the dysmyelinating disorder Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD). To understand the cellular response to overexpressed PLP in PMD, we have overexpressed PLP in BHK cells and primary cultures of oligodendrocytes with the Semliki Forest virus expression system. Overexpressed PLP was routed to late endosomes/lys...

The distribution of newly synthesized proteolipid protein (PLP, 23 kdaltons) and myelin basic proteins (MBPs, 14-21.5 kdaltons) was determined in microsomal and myelin fractions prepared from the brainstems o1 10-30 d-old rats sacrificed at different times after an intracranial injection of 35S-methionine. Labeled MBPs were found in the myelin fraction 2 min after the injection, whereas PLP app...