Molecular Control of Oligodendrocyte Development

Benayahu Elbaz, Brian Popko*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

217 Scopus citations

Abstract

Myelin is a multilayer lipid membrane structure that wraps and insulates axons, allowing for the efficient propagation of action potentials. During developmental myelination of the central nervous system (CNS), oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) proliferate and migrate to their final destination, where they terminally differentiate into mature oligodendrocytes and myelinate axons. Lineage progression and terminal differentiation of oligodendrocyte lineage cells are under tight transcriptional and post-transcriptional control. The characterization of several recently identified regulatory factors that govern these processes, which are the focus of this review, has greatly increased our understanding of oligodendrocyte development and function. These insights are critical to facilitate efforts to enhance OPC differentiation in neurological disorders that disrupt CNS myelin.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)263-277
Number of pages15
JournalTrends in Neurosciences
Volume42
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2019

Funding

Relevant work in the Popko laboratory has been supported by grants from the NIH (NS034939, NS109372, NS067550), the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (RG-1501-02797, PP-1603-08106), the Myelin Repair Foundation, and the Dr Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation. In this review, the authors focused primarily on recently published work; we apologize to all the colleagues whose work was not cited due to space limitations. Relevant work in the Popko laboratory has been supported by grants from the NIH ( NS034939 , NS109372 , NS067550 ), the National Multiple Sclerosis Society ( RG-1501-02797 , PP-1603-08106 ), the Myelin Repair Foundation , and the Dr Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation . In this review, the authors focused primarily on recently published work; we apologize to all the colleagues whose work was not cited due to space limitations.

Keywords

  • myelin
  • oligodendrocyte lineage progression
  • oligodendrocytes
  • transcription factors

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Molecular Control of Oligodendrocyte Development'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this