Control of Local Protein Synthesis and Initial Events in Myelination by Action Potentials

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 333; no. 6049; pp. 1647 - 1651
• Main Authors: Wake, Hiroaki, Lee, Philip R., Fields, R. Douglas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 16.09.2011; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Action potential; Action Potentials; Adenosine Triphosphate - metabolism; Animals; Axons; Axons - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Calcium - metabolism; Calcium Signaling; Cell Differentiation; Cells, Cultured; Electric Stimulation; Electrical stimulation; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Ganglia, Spinal - cytology; Ganglia, Spinal - embryology; Glutamic Acid - metabolism; Information Processing; Logical Thinking; Mice; Myelin; Myelin Basic Protein - biosynthesis; Myelin Basic Protein - genetics; Myelin Basic Protein - metabolism; Myelin Sheath - physiology; Myelination; Neural Stem Cells - cytology; Neural Stem Cells - metabolism; Neurology; Neurons; Neurotransmitters; Oligodendroglia; Oligodendroglia - cytology; Oligodendroglia - metabolism; Physiological regulation; Protein synthesis; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fyn - metabolism; Receptors; Receptors, Transferrin - metabolism; Signal Transduction; Synaptic Transmission; Synaptic Vesicles - metabolism; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Spinal cord; Myelin; Neuroglia; Rodentia; Central nervous system; Electrophysiology; Synaptic vesicle; Lipids; Axon; Action potential; Glutamate; Signal transduction; Vertebrata; Myelination; Mammalia; Oligodendrocyte; Mouse; Protein synthesis; Animal; Excitatory aminoacid; Neurotransmitter; Development; Spinal ganglion; Release
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1206998

Formation of myelin, the electrical insulation on axons produced by oligodendrocytes, is controlled by complex cell-cell signaling that regulates oligodendrocyte development and myelin formation on appropriate axons. If electrical activity could stimulate myelin induction, then neurodevelopment and the speed of information transmission through circuits could be modified by neural activity. We find that release of glutamate from synaptic vesicles along axons of mouse dorsal root ganglion neurons in culture promotes myelin induction by stimulating formation of cholesterol-rich signaling domains between oligodendrocytes and axons, and increasing local synthesis of the major protein in the myelin sheath, myelin basic protein, through Fyn kinase-dependent signaling. This axon-oligodendrocyte signaling would promote myelination of electrically active axons to regulate neural development and function according to environmental experience.