scholarly journals mTORC2 loss in oligodendrocyte progenitor cells results in regional hypomyelination in the central nervous system

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin D Dahl ◽  
Hannah A Hathaway ◽  
Adam R Almeida ◽  
Jennifer Bourne ◽  
Tanya L Brown ◽  
...  

In the central nervous system (CNS), oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) differentiate into mature oligodendrocytes to generate myelin, which is essential for normal nervous system function. OPC differentiation is driven by signaling pathways such as mTOR (Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin), which functions in two distinct complexes: mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) and mTOR complex 2 (mTORC2), containing Raptor or Rictor respectively. In the current studies, mTORC2 signaling was selectively deleted from OPCs in PDGFRα-Cre X Rictorfl/fl mice. This study examined developmental myelination in male and female mice, comparing the impact of mTORC2 deletion in the corpus callosum and spinal cord. In both corpus callosum and spinal cord, Rictor loss in OPCs resulted in early reduction in myelin RNAs and some myelin proteins. However, these deficits rapidly recovered in spinal cord, where normal myelin abundance and thickness was noted at post-natal day 21 and 1.5 months. By contrast, the losses in corpus callosum resulted in severe hypomyelination, and increased unmyelinated axons. The current studies focus on uniquely altered signaling pathways following mTORC2 loss in developing oligodendrocytes. A major mTORC2 substrate is phospho-Akt-S473, which was significantly reduced throughout development in both corpus callosum and spinal cord at all ages measured, yet this had little impact in spinal cord. Loss of mTORC2 signaling resulted in decreased expression of actin regulators such as gelsolin in corpus callosum, but only minimal loss in spinal cord. The current study establishes a regionally-specific role for mTORC2 signaling in OPCs, particularly in the corpus callosum.

2022 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather M. Barber ◽  
Maria F. Ali ◽  
Sarah Kucenas

Tiling is a developmental process where cell populations become evenly distributed throughout a tissue. In this review, we discuss the developmental cellular tiling behaviors of the two major glial populations in the central nervous system (CNS)—oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) and astrocytes. First, we discuss OPC tiling in the spinal cord, which is comprised of the three cellular behaviors of migration, proliferation, and contact-mediated repulsion (CMR). These cellular behaviors occur simultaneously during OPC development and converge to produce the emergent behavior of tiling which results in OPCs being evenly dispersed and occupying non-overlapping domains throughout the CNS. We next discuss astrocyte tiling in the cortex and hippocampus, where astrocytes migrate, proliferate, then ultimately determine their exclusive domains by gradual removal of overlap rather than sustained CMR. This results in domains that slightly overlap, allowing for both exclusive control of “synaptic islands” and astrocyte-astrocyte communication. We finally discuss the similarities and differences in the tiling behaviors of these glial populations and what remains unknown regarding glial tiling and how perturbations to this process may impact injury and disease.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 5192
Author(s):  
Ulises Gómez-Pinedo ◽  
Yolanda García-Ávila ◽  
Lucía Gallego-Villarejo ◽  
Jordi A. Matías-Guiu ◽  
María Soledad Benito-Martín ◽  
...  

Introduction: AQP4 (aquaporin-4)–immunoglobulin G (IgG)-mediated neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease that affects the central nervous system, particularly the spinal cord and optic nerve; remyelination capacity in neuromyelitis optica is yet to be determined, as is the role of AQP4–IgG in cell differentiation. Material and Methods: We included three groups—a group of patients with AQP4–IgG-positive neuromyelitis optica, a healthy group, and a sham group. We analyzed differentiation capacity in cultures of neurospheres from the subventricular zone of mice by adding serum at two different times: early and advanced stages of differentiation. We also analyzed differentiation into different cell lines. Results and Conclusions: The effect of sera from patients with NMOSD on precursor cells differs according to the degree of differentiation, and probably affects oligodendrocyte progenitor cells from NG2 cells to a lesser extent than cells from the subventricular zone; however, the resulting oligodendrocytes may be compromised in terms of maturation and possibly limited in their ability to generate myelin. Furthermore, these cells decrease in number with age. It is very unlikely that the use of drugs favoring the migration and differentiation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells in multiple sclerosis would be effective in the context of neuromyelitis optica, but cell therapy with oligodendrocyte progenitor cells seems to be a potential alternative.


Development ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 128 (10) ◽  
pp. 1757-1769 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Olivier ◽  
I. Cobos ◽  
E.M. Perez Villegas ◽  
N. Spassky ◽  
B. Zalc ◽  
...  

Oligodendrocytes are the myelin-forming cells in the central nervous system. In the brain, oligodendrocyte precursors arise in multiple restricted foci, distributed along the caudorostral axis of the ventricular neuroepithelium. In chick embryonic hind-, mid- and caudal forebrain, oligodendrocytes have a basoventral origin, while in the rostral fore-brain oligodendrocytes emerge from alar territories (Perez Villegas, E. M., Olivier, C., Spassky, N., Poncet, C., Cochard, P., Zalc, B., Thomas, J. L. and Martinez, S. (1999) Dev. Biol. 216, 98–113). To investigate the respective territories colonized by oligodendrocyte progenitor cells that originate from either the basoventral or alar foci, we have created a series of quail-chick chimeras. Homotopic chimeras demonstrate clearly that, during embryonic development, oligodendrocyte progenitors that emerge from the alar anterior entopeduncular area migrate tangentially to invade the entire telencephalon, whereas those from the basal rhombomeric foci show a restricted rostrocaudal distribution and colonize only their rhombomere of origin. Heterotopic chimeras indicate that differences in the migratory properties of oligodendroglial cells do not depend on their basoventral or alar ventricular origin. Irrespective of their origin (basal or alar), oligodendrocytes migrate only short distances in the hindbrain and long distances in the prosencephalon. Furthermore, we provide evidence that, in the developing chick brain, all telencephalic oligodendrocytes originate from the anterior entopeduncular area and that the prominent role of anterior entopeduncular area in telencephalic oligodendrogenesis is conserved between birds and mammals.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (16) ◽  
pp. 5911
Author(s):  
Berta Alcover-Sanchez ◽  
Gonzalo Garcia-Martin ◽  
Francisco Wandosell ◽  
Beatriz Cubelos

Myelination is required for fast and efficient synaptic transmission in vertebrates. In the central nervous system, oligodendrocytes are responsible for creating myelin sheaths that isolate and protect axons, even throughout adulthood. However, when myelin is lost, the failure of remyelination mechanisms can cause neurodegenerative myelin-associated pathologies. From oligodendrocyte progenitor cells to mature myelinating oligodendrocytes, myelination is a highly complex process that involves many elements of cellular signaling, yet many of the mechanisms that coordinate it, remain unknown. In this review, we will focus on the three major pathways involved in myelination (PI3K/Akt/mTOR, ERK1/2-MAPK, and Wnt/β-catenin) and recent advances describing the crosstalk elements which help to regulate them. In addition, we will review the tight relation between Ras GTPases and myelination processes and discuss its potential as novel elements of crosstalk between the pathways. A better understanding of the crosstalk elements orchestrating myelination mechanisms is essential to identify new potential targets to mitigate neurodegeneration.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-13
Author(s):  
James B. Talmage ◽  
Jay Blaisdell

Abstract Injuries that affect the central nervous system (CNS) can be catastrophic because they involve the brain or spinal cord, and determining the underlying clinical cause of impairment is essential in using the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides), in part because the AMA Guides addresses neurological impairment in several chapters. Unlike the musculoskeletal chapters, Chapter 13, The Central and Peripheral Nervous System, does not use grades, grade modifiers, and a net adjustment formula; rather the chapter uses an approach that is similar to that in prior editions of the AMA Guides. The following steps can be used to perform a CNS rating: 1) evaluate all four major categories of cerebral impairment, and choose the one that is most severe; 2) rate the single most severe cerebral impairment of the four major categories; 3) rate all other impairments that are due to neurogenic problems; and 4) combine the rating of the single most severe category of cerebral impairment with the ratings of all other impairments. Because some neurological dysfunctions are rated elsewhere in the AMA Guides, Sixth Edition, the evaluator may consult Table 13-1 to verify the appropriate chapter to use.


1963 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Grinberg

ABSTRACT Radiologically thyroidectomized female Swiss mice were injected intraperitoneally with 131I-labeled thyroxine (T4*), and were studied at time intervals of 30 minutes and 4, 28, 48 and 72 hours after injection, 10 mice for each time interval. The organs of the central nervous system and the pituitary glands were chromatographed, and likewise serum from the same animal. The chromatographic studies revealed a compound with the same mobility as 131I-labeled triiodothyronine in the organs of the CNS and in the pituitary gland, but this compound was not present in the serum. In most of the chromatographic studies, the peaks for I, T4 and T3 coincided with those for the standards. In several instances, however, such an exact coincidence was lacking. A tentative explanation for the presence of T3* in the pituitary gland following the injection of T4* is a deiodinating system in the pituitary gland or else the capacity of the pituitary gland to concentrate T3* formed in other organs. The presence of T3* is apparently a characteristic of most of the CNS (brain, midbrain, medulla and spinal cord); but in the case of the optic nerve, the compound is not present under the conditions of this study.


1985 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Terry Hambrecht

ABSTRACTNeural prostheses which are commercially available include cochlear implants for treating certain forms of deafness and urinary bladder evacuation prostheses for individuals with spinal cord disorders. In the future we can anticipate improvements in bioelectrodes and biomaterials which should permit more sophisticated devices such as visual prostheses for the blind and auditory prostheses for the deaf based on microstimulation of the central nervous system.


1908 ◽  
Vol 54 (226) ◽  
pp. 560-561
Author(s):  
David Orr ◽  
R. G. Rows

At a quarterly meeting of this Association held last year at Nottingham, we showed the results of our experiments with toxins upon the spinal cord and brain of rabbits. Our main conclusion was, that the central nervous system could be infected by toxins passing up along the lymph channels of the perineural sheath. The method we employed in our experiments consisted in placing a celloidin capsule filled with a broth culture of an organism under the sciatic nerve or under the skin of the cheek; and we invariably found a resulting degeneration in the spinal cord or brain, according to the situation of the capsule. These lesions we found to be identical in morphological type and anatomical distribution with those found in the cord of early tabes dorsalis and in the brain and cord of general paralysis of the insane. The conclusion suggested by our work was that these two diseases, if toxic, were most probably infections of lymphogenous origin.


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