We have examined the expression of a gap junction protein, connexin32 (Cx32), in Schwann cells and oligodendrocytes. In peripheral nerve, Cx32 is found in the paranodal myelin loops and Schmidt-Lanterman incisures of myelinating Schwann cells, and the levels of Cx32 protein and mRNA change in parallel with those of other myelin-related genes during development, Wallerian degeneration, and axona...

Ultrastructural studies have shown that during early stages of Schwann cell myelination mesaxon membranes are converted to compact myelin lamellae. The distinct changes that occur in the spacing of these Schwann cell membranes are likely to be mediated by the redistribution of (a) the myelin-associated glycoprotein, a major structural protein of mesaxon membranes; and (b) P0 protein, the major ...

background: progesterone as a sex steroid hormone is thought to affect and prevent demyelination, but its role in promoting myelin repair is far less investigated. in this study, remyelinating potential of progesterone in corpus callosum was evaluated on an experimental model of ms. methods: in this experimental study, adult male c57bl/6 mice were fed with 0.2% (w/w) cuprizone in ground breeder...

Incubation of rat sciatic nerve slices with Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate buffer containing [3H]palmitic acid resulted in the acylation of the PO glycoprotein and a 24 kDa protein of the peripheral nerve myelin. Radioactivity was removed from PO after treating PO with hydroxylamine (83%) and methanolic KOH (97%). These results provided evidence that the radioactivity incorporated into PO was not due...

The formation of myelin by Schwann cells (SCs) occurs via a series of orchestrated molecular events. We previously used global expression profiling to examine peripheral nerve myelination and identified the NAD(+)-dependent deacetylase Sir-two-homolog 2 (Sirt2) as a protein likely to be involved in myelination. Here, we show that Sirt2 expression in SCs is correlated with that of structural mye...

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 ...

Prior studies support a role for mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling in oligodendrocyte differentiation and myelination. Here we use Cre-recombinase driven by the CNP promoter to generate a mouse line with oligodendrocyte-specific knockdown of mTOR (mTOR cKO) in the CNS. We provide evidence that mTOR is necessary for proper oligodendrocyte differentiation and myelination in the spina...

Myelin proteolipid protein (PLP), the major protein of mammalian CNS myelin, is a member of the proteolipid gene family (pgf). It is an evolutionarily conserved polytopic integral membrane protein and a potential autoantigen in multiple sclerosis (MS). To analyze antibody recognition of PLP epitopes in situ, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specific for different regions of human PLP (50-69, 100-12...

Nogo-A is one of the most potent oligodendrocyte-derived inhibitors for axonal regrowth in the injured adult CNS. However, the physiological function of Nogo-A in development and in healthy oligodendrocytes is still unknown. In the present study, we investigated the role of Nogo-A for myelin formation in the developing optic nerve. By quantitative real-time PCR, we found that the expression of ...