Abstract
Key Points Oligodendrocyte precursor cells express doublecortin, a microtubule-associated protein.Oligodendrocyte precursor cells express doublecortin, but at a lower level of expression than in neuronal precursor.Doublecortin is not associated with a potential immature neuronal phenotype in Oligodendrocyte precursor cells.Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPC) are glial cells that differentiate into myelinating oligodendrocytes during embryogenesis and early stages of post-natal life. OPCs continue to divide throughout adulthood and some eventually differentiate into oligodendrocytes in response to demyelinating lesions. There is growing evidence that OPCs are also involved in activity-driven de novo myelination of previously unmyelinated axons and myelin remodeling in adulthood. Considering these roles in the adult brain, OPCs are likely mobile cells that can migrate on some distances before they differentiate into myelinating oligodendrocytes. A number of studies have noted that OPCs express doublecortin (DCX), a microtubule-associated protein expressed in neural precursor cells and in migrating immature neurons. Here we describe the distribution of DCX in OPCs. We found that almost all OPCs express DCX, but the level of expression appears to be much lower than what is found in neural precursor. We found that DCX is downregulated when OPCs start expressing mature oligodendrocyte markers and is absent in myelinating oligodendrocytes. DCX does not appear to signal an immature neuronal phenotype in OPCs in the adult mouse brain. Rather, it could be involved either in cell migration, or as a marker of an immature oligodendroglial cell phenotype.
Highlights
Traditionally perceived as non-regenerative tissue, the adult brain does retain the ability to generate new neurons, as first described by Messier (Messier et al, 1958) and confirmed by Altman and Das (1964)
Studies have determined that neurogenesis in the adult rodent brain takes place in two distinct regions: the subgranular layer of the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, with newly generated neurons migrating to the granular layer of the dentate gyrus (Kaplan and Bell, 1984; Stanfield and Trice, 1988; Cameron et al, 1993; Kuhn et al, 1996) and in the Doublecortin in Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells subventricular zone of the lateral ventricles, from where the newly generated neurons migrate to the olfactory bulbs using a pathway known as the rostral migratory stream (Lois and Alvarez-Buylla, 1994; Alvarez-Buylla and Garcıa-Verdugo, 2002)
We found that most Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPC) express low levels of DCX in all parts of the brain where these cells are found
Summary
Traditionally perceived as non-regenerative tissue, the adult brain does retain the ability to generate new neurons, as first described by Messier (Messier et al, 1958) and confirmed by Altman and Das (1964). Studies have determined that neurogenesis in the adult rodent brain takes place in two distinct regions: the subgranular layer of the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, with newly generated neurons migrating to the granular layer of the dentate gyrus (Kaplan and Bell, 1984; Stanfield and Trice, 1988; Cameron et al, 1993; Kuhn et al, 1996) and in the Doublecortin in Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells subventricular zone of the lateral ventricles, from where the newly generated neurons migrate to the olfactory bulbs using a pathway known as the rostral migratory stream (Lois and Alvarez-Buylla, 1994; Alvarez-Buylla and Garcıa-Verdugo, 2002) The migration of these newly generated neuroblasts to their final destination is thought to be facilitated by the expression of doublecortin (DCX), a protein that participates in the polymerization of microtubules (Francis et al, 1999; Gleeson et al, 1999). As we show here, DCX is widely expressed in oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs; known as NG2glial cells, synantocytes, or polydendrocytes; Tamura et al, 2007a; Ehninger et al, 2011)
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