Axoglial synapses are formed onto pioneer oligodendrocyte precursor cells at the onset of spinal cord gliogenesis

Abstract

Virtually all oligodendrocyte precursors cells (OPCs) receive glutamatergic and/or GABAergic synapses that are lost upon their differentiation into oligodendrocytes in the postnatal and adult brain. Although OPCs are generated at mid-embryonic stages, several weeks before the onset of myelination, it remains unknown when and where OPCs receive their first synapses and become susceptible to the influence of neuronal activity. In the embryonic spinal cord, neuro-epithelial precursors in the pMN domain cease generating cholinergic motor neurons (MNs) to produce OPCs when the first synapses are formed in the ventral-lateral marginal zone. We discovered that when the first synapses form onto MNs, axoglial synapses also form onto the processes of neuro-epithelial precursors located in the marginal zone as they differentiate into OPCs. After leaving the neuro-epithelium, these pioneer OPCs preferentially accumulate in the marginal zone where they are contacted by functional glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses. Spontaneous activity of these axoglial synapses was significantly potentiated by cholinergic signaling acting through presynaptic nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Moreover, we discovered that chronic nicotine treatment significantly increases early OPC proliferation and density in the marginal zone. Our results demonstrate that OPCs are contacted by functional synapses as soon as they emerge from their precursor domain and that embryonic spinal cord colonization by OPCs can be regulated by cholinergic signaling acting onto these axoglial synapses.