Mechanical regulation of oligodendrocyte biology

Publication date: Available online 12 December 2019Source: Neuroscience LettersAuthor(s): Ekta P. Makhija, Daniela Espinosa-Hoyos, Anna Jagielska, Krystyn J. Van VlietAbstractOligodendrocytes (OL) are a subset of glial cells in the central nervous system (CNS) comprising the brain and spinal cord. The CNS environment is defined by complex biochemical and biophysical cues during development and response to injury or disease. In the last decade, significant progress has been made in understanding of some of the key biophysical factors in the CNS that modulate OL biology, including their key role in myelination of neurons. Taken together, those studies offer translational implications for remyelination therapies, pharmacological research, identification of novel drug targets, and improvements in methods to generate human oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) and OLs from donor stem cells in vitro. This review summarizes current knowledge of how various physical and mechanical cues affect OL biology and its implications for disease, therapeutic approaches, and generation of human OPCs and OLs.
Source: Neuroscience Letters - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research