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The Genetic Signature of Perineuronal Oligodendrocytes

Sara Szuchet¹, Joseph A. Nielsen², Gabor Lovas³, Javier Martinez de Velasco ⁴, Dragan Maric⁵, & Lynn D. Hudson²

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1. The University of Chicago, Neurology
2. NINDS, NIH, Developmental Genetics
3. Semmelweis University (Hungary), Neurology
4. Subdireccion general de medicamentos de uso veterinarios (Spain)
5. NINDS, NIH, Neurophysiology

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Document Type:

Manuscript

Date:

Received 22 April 2008 00:05 UTC; Posted 22 April 2008

Subjects:

Developmental Biology, Genetics, Neuroscience, Bioinformatics

Tags:

• Molecular neuroscience
• Glial cell biology
• Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract:

Oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system can be categorized as precursors, myelin-forming, and non-myelinating perineuronal cells. The function of perineuronal oligodendrocytes is unknown; it was proposed that following injury, they may remyelinate denuded axons. We investigated these cells’ potential. A combination of cell-specific tags, microarray technology and bioinformatics tools to identify gene expression differences between these subpopulations allowed us to capture the genetic signature of perineuronal oligodendrocytes. Here we report that perineuronal oligodendrocytes are configured for a dual role. As cells that embrace neuronal somata, they integrate a repertoire of transcripts designed to create their own code for communicating with neurons. But they maintain a reservoir of untranslated transcripts encoding the major myelin proteins for – we speculate – a demyelinating episode. We posit that the signature molecules, PDGFR-αβ cytokine PDGF-CC, and transcription factor Pea3, used – among others – to define the non-myelinating phenotype, may be critical for mounting a myelinating programme during demyelination. Harnessing this capability is of therapeutic value for diseases such as multiple sclerosis. This is the first molecular characterization of an elusive neural cell.

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This document is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

How to cite this document:

Szuchet, Sara, Nielsen, Joseph, Lovas, Gabor, Martinez de Velasco , Javier, Maric, Dragan, and Hudson, Lynn. The Genetic Signature of Perineuronal Oligodendrocytes. Available from Nature Precedings <http://hdl.handle.net/10101/npre.2008.1821.1> (2008)

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